Deer.io takedown: Russian citizen jailed for selling stolen private data of US citizens online
A Russian citizen has become jailed for 30 months for his role in selling stolen plastic card information and other data used to fuel further criminal activity.
Kirill Victorovich Firsov, 30, from Moscow, acted as being the administrator of an online site that provided stolen information that is personal as well as other services to be used for cybercrime, a US Department of Justice release states.
One-stop cybercrime platform
As previously reported by The Daily Swig, the now-defunct website – Deer.io – hosted about 2,000 illicit online shops making it approximately $17 million during its seven-year operation.
It sold information including gamer account logins, and the sensitive information of US citizens not tied to names, current addresses, cell phone numbers, and at times Social Security numbers.
Deer.io was published as small as October 2013 and was turned off following Firsov’s arrest in March 2020 after an operation in which the FBI purchased 1,100 gamer accounts as well as the sensitive information for more than 3,600 Americans.
The prosecutor asserted that Firsov knew deer.io was selling stolen and counterfeit accounts as he built the platform.
“Also, deer.io was easily searchable, so anyone – including Firsov – could search the woking platform for stolen US accounts and knowledge,” the discharge reads.
“Community . sold stolen accounts, deer.io was not cloaked in secrecy and required no special password for access, because everything was depletes Russia, and American police force could gain no foothold.”
‘Sending a message’
“The FBI will pursue cybercriminals worldwide,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge, Suzanne Turner.
“Today’s sentence sends a message – conducting criminal activity external to the United States doesn’t mean you happen to be outside of reach.
“The FBI will identify and pursue criminal actors from the cyber-sphere, world market darknet no matter where they operate, and try to bring these phones justice inside a United States court.”