Federal officials last week confiscated 39 domains and servers linked to Pakistan-based online marketplaces that sell hacking and fraud-enabling software as part of a multi-agency cybercrime investigation with Houston ties.
In collaboration with the Dutch National Police and federal authorities in Houston, the domains that were a part of a network of marketplaces run by Saim Raza, also known as HeartSender, were taken on January 29.
Saim Raza is accused of orchestrating fraud tool sales that have resulted in losses exceeding $3 million since at least 2020. The Department of Justice claims that the marketplaces marketed phishing toolkits to transnational organized crime groups that preyed on certain Americans.
According to a statement from U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas Nicholas Ganjei, almost everyone has a friend or loved one who has been impacted by these kinds of computer attacks. These frauds generate a great deal of difficulty for their victims and target both individuals and corporations.
Online markets provide a variety of tools, such as email extractors, scam pages, and phishing kits, which are used to create fraudulent schemes. According to the affidavit, Saim Raza also reportedly provided users with training on how to utilize the tools by providing links to educational YouTube videos.
The government claims that the fraud tools were purchased by purported organized crime groups, who then utilized them to support business email hack schemes in which the cybercriminals deceived target companies into paying a third party.
Instead, the funds were sent to a bank account that the organizations operated.
Despite the fact that these individuals live overseas, Ganjei claimed that using these websites allowed them to easily distribute their dangerous hacking tools for a price. But we’ve seriously interfered with their capacity to hurt people today.
The FBI Houston Field Office is still investigating.
