A Belarusian who operated a rent-an-accomplice business for bank thieves has been sentenced to 33 months in prison in New York.

Dmitry Naskovets pleaded guilty to operating CallService.biz, a Russian-language site for identity criminals who trafficked in stolen bank-account data and other information

More at the source

Where there’s a market, there’s an opportunity….

So if I read this correctly some idiot owned a web site that advertised criminal services to other criminals. Is that what it really was? Bit like painting large red arrows with a large sign saying “I’m a criminal. Catch me”.

I’m assuming he used some password thingy type approach to “protect” his web site from the authorities. Maybe the real story should be about how some idiots think they can do what they want on the web without thinking they can get caught.

In all ‘reality’ though Peter, this kind of risky stupidity is also the very reason some people flirt with death in made up dare-sports too.

hulitoons - 24 March 2012 08:12 AM

In all ‘reality’ though Peter, this kind of risky stupidity is also the very reason some people flirt with death in made up dare-sports too.

I suppose if the criminals advertise their activities on web sites they’re doing society a favour. The web hosting companies get their fees and the police get their man or woman.

Well, it isn’t really all that uncommon for illegal stuff such as this to be publicly advertised.  What they usually do is to phrase things in a nice innocuous code, and count on word of mouth through the community of their clients to pass on what the actual meaning of things is.  So they might say something such as, “SMOKED HADDOCK:  $5,000 PER TON”, and any potential clients would see that and know that it really means, “CHEAP YUGOSLAVIAN ASSAULT RIFLES:  $5,000 PER CRATE”.

It only gets awkward when some innocent unsuspecting fellow shows up actually wanting to buy several tons of smoked haddock, or when the police notice that a certain notorious criminal has suddenly developed a rather spectacular appetite for smoked haddock from a particular company.

Accipiter - 24 March 2012 09:29 PM

It only gets awkward when some innocent unsuspecting fellow shows up actually wanting to buy several tons of smoked haddock, or when the police notice that a certain notorious criminal has suddenly developed a rather spectacular appetite for smoked haddock from a particular company.

If they survived after the first time, one would think they had better keep some fish on hand!