Manhattan D.A.’s Office Seizes Domains Of Websites Selling More Than 1 Million Stolen Credit Cards

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., today announced the Office's seizure of 12 domain names associated with five online vendors: SIKTOR, PP24, CVVUNION, VCLUB, and BLACK'S STASH, which sold stolen credit and debit card information and cardholders' personal identifying information. The ongoing investigation identified the possession and sale of the information of more than one million cards stolen from people across the United States, including tens of thousands of New Yorkers.

"The domains seized by my office were used to host sophisticated, structured online marketplaces that exclusively trafficked in stolen information," said D.A. Bragg. "My office's Cyber Crime Bureau is actively investigating as part of its ongoing efforts to protect New Yorkers from computer- and cyber-enabled crimes."

Pictured: The Image That Appears on Seized Domains

Each of the vendors' websites organized this information in a structured manner, including allowing customers to filter their searches in order to target specific financial institutions, geographic locations - one even allowed their customer to search by individual victim name. The sole purpose of these unlawful sites was to provide this stolen information to individuals who could either re-sell it or make unauthorized purchases. The 12 seized domain names now display a notice about the seizures pursuant to a court order. The investigation into individuals operating and accessing these sites is ongoing.

Pictured: An Example of a Vendor's Search Function

Cyber Crime Bureau

D.A. Bragg announced the creation of the Cyber Crime Bureau ("CCB"), an evolution of the Office's longstanding cyber-crime practice tasked with the prosecution of computer crimes and cyber-enabled crimes, in September 2024. CCB utilizes complex investigative techniques and focuses on technically sophisticated and other "cutting edge" crimes which involve recent technological innovation and trends, such as the theft of cryptocurrency, SIM-swapping, computer and network intrusions, business email compromises, malware attacks, illicit dark-web vendors, and the use of Artificial Intelligence to facilitate criminal activity. CCB also oversees a Cyber Intelligence Unit ("CIU"), a specialized team of analysts who focus on sophisticated criminal operations which utilize computer-based networks, infrastructure, and exploits to target Manhattan residents and institutions.

Recent prosecutions include:

• The indictment of a man who allegedly possessed at least four images of child sexual abuse, following CCB investigation that included complex blockchain analysis, and other investigative activity, to identify the individual who accessed and sent Bitcoin to a dark web site that displayed and offered for sale images of child sexual abuse.
• The indictment of the owners of Coin Dispute Network, an allegedly fraudulent cryptocurrency asset recovery business, which falsely claimed it could trace and recover stolen cryptocurrency in exchange for a fee.

CCB has also prosecuted or assisted with investigations involving a major dark web drug trafficking ring, the use of cryptocurrency to provide financial support to terrorist groups operating in Syria, and a sophisticated $700,000 cryptocurrency investment scheme based out of Nigeria, among many others.

Assistant D.A. Lauren Di Giovanni is handling this investigation under the supervision of Assistant D.A.s Virginia Nguyen (Deputy Chief of CCB) and Jeremy Glickman (Chief of CCB) and Executive Assistant D.A. Jodie Kane (Chief of the Investigation Division). Supervising Rackets Investigator Brian Conway, CIU Director John Dethlefsen, and CIU Analysts Eric Diaz and Tyler Holder, assisted in this investigation.

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