Six men were indicted in New York this week on charges they were part of an international cyber theft ring that defrauded online ticketing service StubHub of more than $1 million.
Law enforcement officials in New York, New Jersey, the United Kingdom and Canada cooperating in the investigation.
According to a statement from New York District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the men alleged took part in a scheme to hack into StubHub and steal credit card numbers to purchase more than 3,500 tickets to shows such as concerts featuring Elton John, Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z, as well as sporting events and Broadway shows.
The tickets were then resold within hours and the profits were laundered the money through legitimate UK bank accounts, said Vance.
The six men who are being charged in New York State Supreme Court face varying degrees of money-laundering, grand larceny, possession of stolen property and identity theft, among other charges.
Russians Vadim Polyakov—the alleged ringleader—and Nikolay Matveychuk are accused of purchasing the tickets with stolen credit cards from StubHub, owned by eBay. Polyakov was arrested while vacationing in Spain and is awaiting extradition.
Daniel Petryszyn on New York and Laurence Brinkmeyer and Bryan Caputo, both from New Jersey, resold the tickets and divided profits to multiple PayPal accounts controlled by Palyakov and his associates and well as to bank accounts in the UK and Germany.
Authorities said Sergei Kirin, a Russian national who allegedly advertises his money-laundering business online, was involved in splitting proceeds from the ticket sales into separate payments to be sent by wire transfer to other money-launderers in London and Toronto.
Foreign authorities arrested three others in London, and another person in Toronto.
Vance said StubHub immediately reported unauthorized access of its accounts to law enforcement. StubHub put security measures in place to attempt to stop the breach but the hackers were able to circumvent StubHub’s efforts. More than 1,600 StubHub accounts were accessed. Vance said his office was able to trace internet addresses, PayPal accounts, bank accounts and other accounts to identify the men allegedly involved in the cyber crime ring.
Earlier in July, federal authorities said Russian hacker Roman Seleznev, known as nCuX, Bulba and other online aliases, was indicted and arrested while in Guam.
Chad Hemenway is Managing Editor of Advisen News. He has more than 15 years of journalist experience at a variety of online, daily, and weekly publications. He has covered P&C insurance news since 2007, and he has experience writing about all P&C lines as well as regulation and litigation. Chad won a Jesse H. Neal Award for Best Single Article in 2014 for his coverage of the insurance implications of traumatic brain injuries and Best News Coverage in 2013 for coverage of Superstorm Sandy. Contact Chad at 212.897.4824 or [email protected].
