Pierluigi Paganini November 13, 2019

Aleksei Burkov is a Russian accused of being involved in more than $20 million in credit-card frauds, has been extradited to the US to face criminal charges.

Aleksei Burkov (29) is a Russian man accused of running an online criminal marketplace, called Cardplanet, that helped crooks to organize more than $20 million in credit card fraud. The suspect has been extradited to the US to face criminal charges.

“According to court documents, Burkov allegedly ran a website called “Cardplanet” that sold payment card numbers (e.g., debit and credit cards) that had been stolen primarily through computer intrusions.  Many of the cards offered for sale belonged to U.S. citizens.  The stolen credit card data from more than 150,000 compromised payment cards was allegedly sold on Burkov’s site and has resulted in over $20 million in fraudulent purchases made on U.S. credit cards.” reads a press release published by the DoJ.

Burkov was also operating another invite-only cybercrime forum, to obtain membership prospective members needed three existing members to “vouch” for their good reputation in the cybercrime community. The membership also requested a sum of money, normally $5,000, as insurance. 

“Additionally, Burkov allegedly ran another online Cybercrime Forum that served as an invite-only club where elite cybercriminals could meet and post in a secure location to plan various cybercrimes, to buy and sell stolen goods and services,  such as personal identifying information and malicious software, and offer criminal services, such as money laundering and hacking services.”

In October, the Israel justice minister approved the extradition of Alexei Bourkov to the United States.

The suspect was arrested in Israel in 2015, his case made the headlines multiple times because media speculated a possible prisoner swap with Naama Issachar, an Israeli-American that was arrested in Russia on cannabis charges.

According to the media, the Naama Issachar’s family is opposing the extradition for the above reason.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also commented on the case and told the media that he “would appreciate” Russian President Vladimir Putin looking into Naama Issachar’s case. Of course, Russian officials also made opposition to the extradition.

Burkov initially appeared in Alexandria on Tuesday after being extradited from Israel.

According to the indictment, Cardplanet was offering its members stolen credit card data for a price that goes from $3 up to $60. Burkov was also offering a money-back guarantee for expired or blocked card numbers.

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – Aleksei Burkov , malware)

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