Russian charged with selling credit card numbers online

A Russian man accused of selling stolen credit card numbers online for nearly a decade has been arrested in Nice, France, and faces charges in an indictment unsealed Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Vladislav Anatolievich Horohorin, 27, of Moscow was arrested by French authorities on Saturday as he attempted to board a flight to Moscow, the DOJ said. Horohorin, who called himself BadB online, advertised himself as one of the largest sellers of stolen credit and debit cards worldwide, the DOJ said in a grand jury indictment issued in November.

Horohorin, in an April 2009 advertisement of his services, said he had been selling "dumps" -- compromised credit and debit card numbers -- through websites such as the now-closed Cardplanet.com for about eight years.

Horohorin is charged with access device fraud and aggravated identity theft. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a US $250,000 fine on the count of access device fraud and two years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for aggravated identity theft.

Horohorin advertised the availability of stolen credit card information through Web forums, and directed purchasers to create accounts at dumps.name, a fully-automated dumps vending website operated by Horohorin and hosted outside the U.S., the DOJ said in a press release.

The website was designed to assist in the exchange of funds for the stolen credit card information. Horohorin allegedly directed buyers to fund their dumps.name accounts through services including Webmoney, an online currency service hosted in Russia.

Using an undercover identity, U.S. Secret Service agents contacted Horohorin through the ICQ instant-messaging service in May 2009. Between May and July of 2009, agents arranged to buy more than 70 credit card numbers from him, said the indictment, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

"Cyber criminals who target U.S citizens should not fool themselves into believing they can elude justice simply because they commit crimes outside of our borders," Lanny Breuer, assistant attorney general at the DOJ's Criminal Division, said in a statement. "As this and so many other cases demonstrate, working hand in hand with our partners around the globe, we will do everything in our power to bring these criminals to the United States to answer for their alleged crimes."

Grant Gross covers technology and telecom policy in the U.S. government for The IDG News Service. Follow Grant on Twitter at GrantusG. Grant's e-mail address is grant_gross@idg.com.

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