Slashdot Mirror
The World's Top Cybercriminals
bart_scriv writes "BusinessWeek profiles four individuals identified by law enforcement as the world's foremost online criminals. They're accused of crimes ranging from re-shipping rings to credit card theft and email fraud -- '...all are Russian. Strong technical universities, comparatively low incomes, and an unstable legal system make the former Soviet Union an ideal breeding ground for cyberscams. Also, tense political relations sometimes complicate efforts to obtain cooperation with local law enforcement.'"
If you're caught doing something illegal, it's almost guaranteed there is some price you can pay the police to be let go.
In my opinion, this hurts local small businesses immensely. I believe that it makes them more difficult to succeed and lays the groundwork for an instable/weak capitalistic system. There's even a problem with local law enforcement and bribes in many other countries. Honestly, if there was one thing I think that would help countries get back on track, it would be better law enforcement especially on the local level. How can people be expected to work and thrive in a system when the letter of the law is uncertain? How can you expect them to run a business and distribute goods/services if a thief can pay off police when he burglarizes the store?
My work here is dung.
If you needed a reason, there's a big one. Why deal with them if you don't have to?
With their notoriety, hackers like these have created an entire industry that races to make computers more secure. Given that you'll always have a constant number of script kiddies that don't make the news, the result is more secure computers and more people with jobs in this antivirus market.
This issue is similar to the (existing) problem with Russian nuclear scientists taking their know-how with them to rogue states and terror groups. We need to get Russia to fix its economy, so that Russian programmers can get enough money legally. I think it's in everyone's interest to have them programing games, for example, than cracking systems and writing viruses.
'Loose' is when your pants are three sizes too big. 'Lose' is when you misuse 'loose'.
By definition, the world's top cybercriminals will never be identified.
For those who (like me) had no idea why "re-shipping" would break the law (except possibly as some cheesy customs violation), particularly to the extent that someone would count as a member of the top-four international cybercriminals...
The actual crime lies somewhere between (inclusive) credit card fraud and identity theft. The "shipping" part of that just helps launder the profits.
Just an FYI.
we're never going to convince Putin that what he really wants to do is crack down on people who are bringing a lot of money into the economy and who pose no threat at all to him. Trying to fight this through any kind of court just won't work for this reason. The only way we can really hope to stop this kind of thing is to do more lessons in schools about how pretty much every e-mail which isn't from someone you know is a scam. I don't really know what your education was like in IT in American schools but I know that for the first 3 years of secondary school (UK) I had a teacher who couldn't adequately use windows explorer to find files - we always got told to open the "package" (sic) and then go file -> open... not once did they even mention security. In my last 2 years it changed round a bit and there was some information (although a frighteningly inadequate amount) about security best practices and what have you.
If we want to keep people from getting spam scammed then education is the best way
*''I can't believe it's not a hyperlink.''
One thing I don't get about stories like this is why is it so difficult to go and pick up known "bad guys"?
You can look an Wikipedia and get a list of the big drug lords, read articles like this, or go to SpamHaus and see the list of the big fraud/spammers, but they keep doing what they do for a long time.
Is it because these people are so wealthy that its hard to get them? Is it because governments and law enforcement places are corrupt and get bought off or are part of the action as well?
Inquiring minds want to know.
It's Ukraine.Well, the second worst spammer (BadCow is third) is Michael Lindsay, of iMedia Networks, California.
Its not surprising that they're Russian (and Ukrainian) if you choose to ignore the Americans.
Not harder, bigger.
How can you set up a webserver in Malaysia if Malaysia is blocking your IP. My router won't do much to stop them, but mine, and yours, and theirs will. Shitcan all of Russia. Everywhere. Think of it as Digital Sanctions. Until the government shapes up, no data in, no data out.
I wonder what would happen if I posted a link to www.theftservices.com on Slashdot. I mean, what happens to links like www.theftservices.com when they get posted to Slashdot? What effect would it have on www.theftservices.com?
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
So, umm.... in Soviet Russia, you spy on NSA?
Economic sanctions (and cutting off Internet traffic is definitely an economic sanction) tend to entrench bad governments, not overthrow them. In this way, they tend to have the opposite effect of that which is intended. Rather than inciting the populace to rise up against the government, both the populace and the government begin to blame the sanctions for everything wrong with the country. See: Cuba.
Russia has a lot of big problems, a lot of which can be traced back to its being basically an impoverished totalitarian nation for virtually all of its history, followed by a sudden transition into a new form of government (and economy) that they were not prepared for and had no history with. As a result, they are having issues basically with capitalism run amok without the benefit of effective controls.
The solution to this problem is more education among consumers here in the US (people who know how these scams work are less likely to fall for them) coupled with reforms in Russia that will make police less susceptible to bribery (higher wages and more training), and make criminals more likely to be caught and punished (technical training for police and harsh penalties for lawbreakers).
Don't be ridiculous. You can't block an entire country just because of one individual. This could happen anywhere. Look at the amount of spam originating from America. The problem is more difficult to solve than just saying the government should fix it.
I'll probably be modded down for this...
You, sir, should be running the State Department. You're a freakin' genius. Or a shill for the bomb shelter industry.
Don't blame me; I'm never given mod points.
"Law enforcement officials in Moscow who wished to remain anonymous admitted that a large purple gorilla was still at large."
"Made up/misattributed quote that makes me look smart. I am on
For a moment there I though you were talking about India.
First we set up phony credit card site, then we get moose and squirrel...
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
...oh fuck, I can't think of anything.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it