The son of a Russian lawmaker could face up to 40 years in the jail for hacking

Roman Seleznev (32), the son of the Russian lawmaker and Russian Parliament member Valery Seleznev was convicted of stealing 2.9 Million credit card numbers

Roman Seleznev (32), the son of one of the most notorious Russian lawmaker and Russian Parliament member Valery Seleznev has been convicted in the US of hacking businesses and stealing 2.9 million US credit card numbers using Point-of-Sale (POS) malware

“A federal jury today convicted a Vladivostok, Russia, man of 38 counts related to his scheme to hack into point-of-sale computers to steal and sell credit card numbers to the criminal underworld, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes of the Western District of Washington. ” reads the announcement published by the DoJ.

According to the Department of Justice, the hacking scheme defrauded banks of more than $169 Million. The stolen credit card data were offered for sale on multiple “carding” websites.

“Testimony at trial revealed that Seleznev’s scheme caused 3,700 financial institutions more than $169 million in losses.” continues the note published by the DoJ.

Seleznev, who was using the online moniker ‘Track2‘ was convicted in a Washington court on Thursday of 38 charges related to stolen credit card details, which includes:

• Ten counts of Wire Fraud
• Nine counts of obtaining information from a Protected Computer
• Nine counts of possession of 15 Unauthorized Devices
• Eight counts of Intentional Damage to a Protected Computer
• Two counts of Aggravated Identity Theft

“Roman Valerevich Seleznev, aka Track2, 32, was convicted after an eight-day trial of 10 counts of wire fraud, eight counts of intentional damage to a protected computer, nine counts of obtaining information from a protected computer, nine counts of possession of 15 or more unauthorized access devices and two counts of aggravated identity theft.  U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones of the Western District of Washington scheduled sentencing for Dec. 2, 2016.”

Roman Seleznev, 32, the son of Russian Parliament member Valery Seleznev, was arrested in 2014 while attempting to board a flight in the Maldives, the arrest raised diplomatic tensions between American and Russian authorities.

The prosecution was built starting from data found on his laptop that was seized at the time of the arrest. The PC contained more than 1.7 million stolen credit card numbers, some of which were stolen from businesses in Western Washington.

The analysis of the laptop allowed the prosecutors to find additional evidence linking Seleznev to the servers, email accounts and financial transactions involved in the hacking scheme.

The prosecution was criticized by the Seleznev’s lawyer, John Henry Browne.

“I don’t know of any case that has allowed such outrageous behavior,” said Browne.

The US DoJ replied that Seleznev “was prosecuted for his conduct not his nationality.”

If convicted, Seleznev could face up to 40 years in the jail, his victims were small businesses and retailers hacked from 2008 to 2014.

Seleznev will be sentenced on December 2.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs –Roman Seleznev, cybercrime)