Operation Shadow Web Leads to 36 Arrests in Carding Forum Crackdown
The United States Department of Justice recently announced that 36 individuals connected to the carding forum known as Infraud have been charged following an international law enforcement investigation called “Shadow Web.” This large-scale operation involved the following agencies:
- U.S. Department of Justice
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement
- Nevada State Police Department
- Law enforcement agencies from Albania, Luxembourg, and Thailand
The Infraud organization collected and sold stolen credit and debit card information, as well as personal financial data from bank customers. The Department of Justice claims that Infraud caused approximately $1.5 billion in losses to the U.S. financial system. The group’s name comes from the forum’s motto: “In Fraud We Trust,” a play on the phrase “In God We Trust.”
Four forum members have already been charged and detained for their roles in running and developing the forum. Those arrested include:
- John Telusma, 33, American – known as Jhon Wetsley Telusma or Peterelliot
- Jose Gamboa, 29, Mexican – known as Rafael101, Memberplex2006, Knowledge
- Piy Sushi Wilson, 31, American – known as Deposits Insurance, TheRealGuru, TheRealGuruNYC, Po1son, 1nfection, and 1nfected
- David Jonathan Vargas, 33, American – known as Cashmoneyinc, Abc, Poony, DvdSVrgs
The forum’s administrator was identified as Svyatoslav Bondarenko, a 34-year-old Ukrainian also known as Obnon, Rektor, and Helkern. Bondarenko is also believed to have managed another carding forum, Darklife.ws, which is now offline.
Bondarenko founded Infraud in October 2010 but ceased his activities in 2015. Sergey Medvedev, a 31-year-old Russian, is believed to be a co-founder of Infraud. Medvedev was arrested by police in his apartment in Bangkok, Thailand. When Bondarenko disappeared from the forum in 2015, Medvedev took over as administrator. He is now facing extradition to the United States to stand trial.
According to the indictment, Infraud members used the Liberty Reserve payment system to conduct transactions. Liberty Reserve was an electronic payment system registered in Costa Rica, used by over a million users for online payments. The system was shut down by U.S. law enforcement in 2013 due to its widespread use for money laundering.
Thai police also seized over 100,000 bitcoins (worth nearly $1 billion) belonging to the Infraud forum. Notably, forum members used a simple ICQ client for communication.
Other suspects arrested during the “Shadow Web” operation came from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Kosovo, Serbia, Ukraine, and Pakistan. In total, suspects from 17 countries are involved in the case. An additional 18 suspects have been charged but not detained, and 5 more are currently wanted. The accused include administrators, moderators, suppliers, VIP clients, and regular forum users.
“Criminals cannot hide behind computer screens forever. We work vigilantly, together with American and international partners. Our goal is to identify and dismantle transnational cybercriminal organizations like Infraud,” said Acting U.S. Attorney for Nevada, Dale Allison. He also noted that all trials will take place in Nevada, with around 50 people expected to face court proceedings.