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The international operation led to arrests of service participants around the world.
The US Attorney's Office announced the completion of an international investigation into cybercrime and the activities of the xDedic Marketplace darknet market. According to court documents, the xDedic Marketplace illegally sold credentials (usernames and passwords) to servers around the world, as well as personal information of US residents, including dates of birth and social security numbers. The acquired servers were used by criminals to organize various types of illegal activities, including tax fraud and ransomware attacks.
The victims whose information was sold on the market were representatives of various industries around the world, including local, state and federal government agencies, hospitals, universities, metropolitan transportation authorities, accounting and law firms, and pension funds.
xDedic administrators provided exceptional operational security by using an international network and cryptocurrency to hide the location of servers and the identity of participants. In total, more than 700,000 compromised servers were offered on xDedic, including at least 150,000 in the US, including 8,000 in Florida, USA.
In January 2019, the Florida District Attorney's Office in Tampa confiscated the xDedic domain names and dismantled the site's infrastructure, effectively shutting down its operations. The international operation was the result of close cooperation with Europol, as well as law enforcement agencies in Belgium, Ukraine, the Netherlands and Germany.
Following the closure of xDedic, the U.S. Attorney's Office filed charges against individuals involved in the site's activities at all levels, including administrators, server vendors, and buyers. For example, administrators Alexandru Habasescu (31 years old; Chisinau, Moldova) and Pavlo Harmansky (32 years old; Kiev, Ukraine) were sentenced to 3 years, 5 months and 2.5 years in prison respectively for fraud involving access to devices. Habasescu was detained in the Canary Islands in 2022 and extradited to the United States, while Harmansky was arrested at Miami International Airport in 2019.
One of the largest sellers on the market offered access to more than 35,000 compromised servers worldwide and earned more than $350,000 in illegal revenue. The seller was detained in Georgia in 2022 and extradited to the United States, where he was sentenced to 5 years in prison.
A Nigerian citizen, Allen Levinson, an active buyer on the Marketplace, was interested in accessing the systems of American audit firms. He used the information he obtained to file hundreds of false tax returns, claiming more than $60 million in tax refunds. Levinson was arrested in the UK in 2020 and extradited to the US, where he was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison.
In addition, two buyers from the UK were charged with conspiracy to commit electronic fraud and aggravated identity theft. Both are awaiting extradition from the UK. One of them is also charged with perjury and theft of public funds. If convicted, each person faces up to 20 years in prison.
Many of the defendants are citizens of countries that do not extradite their citizens, so the United States will have to find and extradite criminals from the countries that extradite them. A total of 19 suspects have been charged and are awaiting extradition to the United States.
The US Attorney's Office announced the completion of an international investigation into cybercrime and the activities of the xDedic Marketplace darknet market. According to court documents, the xDedic Marketplace illegally sold credentials (usernames and passwords) to servers around the world, as well as personal information of US residents, including dates of birth and social security numbers. The acquired servers were used by criminals to organize various types of illegal activities, including tax fraud and ransomware attacks.
The victims whose information was sold on the market were representatives of various industries around the world, including local, state and federal government agencies, hospitals, universities, metropolitan transportation authorities, accounting and law firms, and pension funds.
xDedic administrators provided exceptional operational security by using an international network and cryptocurrency to hide the location of servers and the identity of participants. In total, more than 700,000 compromised servers were offered on xDedic, including at least 150,000 in the US, including 8,000 in Florida, USA.
In January 2019, the Florida District Attorney's Office in Tampa confiscated the xDedic domain names and dismantled the site's infrastructure, effectively shutting down its operations. The international operation was the result of close cooperation with Europol, as well as law enforcement agencies in Belgium, Ukraine, the Netherlands and Germany.
Following the closure of xDedic, the U.S. Attorney's Office filed charges against individuals involved in the site's activities at all levels, including administrators, server vendors, and buyers. For example, administrators Alexandru Habasescu (31 years old; Chisinau, Moldova) and Pavlo Harmansky (32 years old; Kiev, Ukraine) were sentenced to 3 years, 5 months and 2.5 years in prison respectively for fraud involving access to devices. Habasescu was detained in the Canary Islands in 2022 and extradited to the United States, while Harmansky was arrested at Miami International Airport in 2019.
One of the largest sellers on the market offered access to more than 35,000 compromised servers worldwide and earned more than $350,000 in illegal revenue. The seller was detained in Georgia in 2022 and extradited to the United States, where he was sentenced to 5 years in prison.
A Nigerian citizen, Allen Levinson, an active buyer on the Marketplace, was interested in accessing the systems of American audit firms. He used the information he obtained to file hundreds of false tax returns, claiming more than $60 million in tax refunds. Levinson was arrested in the UK in 2020 and extradited to the US, where he was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison.
In addition, two buyers from the UK were charged with conspiracy to commit electronic fraud and aggravated identity theft. Both are awaiting extradition from the UK. One of them is also charged with perjury and theft of public funds. If convicted, each person faces up to 20 years in prison.
Many of the defendants are citizens of countries that do not extradite their citizens, so the United States will have to find and extradite criminals from the countries that extradite them. A total of 19 suspects have been charged and are awaiting extradition to the United States.
