The US authorities have charged two Russian nationals, Aleksey Stroganov and Tim Stigal, with a series of fraud and related offenses. The charges are in connection with a sophisticated scheme involving extensive computer intrusions targeting individuals and companies.
Aleksey Stroganov, also known as “Aleksei Stroganov,” “flint,” “flint24,” “Gursky Oleg,” “Oleg Gurskiy,” and “Строганов Алексей Тимофеевич,” was allegedly part of a criminal conspiracy spanning from May 2007 to July 2017. The conspiracy involved hacking into computer networks to steal debit and credit card numbers, as well as personal identifying information associated with the cardholders.
Stroganov and his collaborators managed to harvest data from hundreds of millions of credit card and banking accounts. Stroganov oversaw a network of resellers and vendors who were provided access to databases containing personal information and payment card data. Subsequently, these vendors sold the stolen data on cybercrime forums and dark web websites. The financial losses caused by the scheme are estimated to exceed $35 million.
Stroganov faces charges including conspiracy to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution, wire fraud, bank fraud, and aggravated identity theft. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud and a maximum of 30 years for bank fraud, with aggravated identity theft carrying a mandatory two-year sentence.
Tim Stigal, also known as “Key” and “Тим Стигал,” is implicated in four separate conspiracies from April 2014 to March 2016. His involvement revolved around the sale of stolen payment card information. Stigal also allegedly attempted to extort one of the corporate victims by threatening to disclose confidential customer data unless a ransom was paid.
Stigal faces charges including wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, computer fraud extortion, access device fraud, and aggravated identity theft. The penalties for these charges range from a maximum of 5 years in prison for computer fraud extortion to 20 years for wire fraud conspiracy and 30 years for access device fraud.