In the News

Sharing threat information among peers benefits all parties through awareness, informed decision making, and increased resilience.  The NCFTA sharing model includes responsible sharing with and support of law enforcement to enable authorities to disrupt cyber-criminal actors and groups wherever they may be. This is a big reason why we do what we do; to impose a consequence on those who leverage the internet to criminally benefit themselves or others.

Included below are press releases pertaining to successful law enforcement investigations and other newsworthy items in which the NCFTA or NCFTA community played a supporting role.

Congratulations to those law enforcement agencies, case agents, and prosecutors who have invested countless hours while seeking justice for exploited victims.

December 18, 2023

Police Raid “Skimmer Manufacturing Lab” in Houston Airbnb, Charge Romanian Suspects Who Crossed Canadian Border

Four suspects, believed to be connected to Romanian crime families, have been charged in connection to a card skimming scheme. The group allegedly crossed the border from Canada into Vermont and cut off their court-ordered GPS ankle monitors before placing credit card skimmers at several locations while temporarily staying in Houston, according to court documents.

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November 22, 2023

Kentucky Man Indicted for Cyber Intrusion, Identity Theft, and Bank Fraud

Jesse Kipf, 38, has been indicted by a federal grand jury sitting in London, Kentucky on five counts of computer fraud, three counts of aggravated identity theft, and two counts of making false statements on applications in connection with federally insured financial institutions.

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November 14, 2023

RUSSIAN NATIONAL PLEADS GUILTY TO OPERATING ILLEGAL PROXY SERVICE THAT INFECTED TENS OF THOUSANDS OF INTERNET-CONNECTED DEVICES

Sergei Makinin, a Russian and Moldovan national, pled guilty to three counts of knowingly causing the transmission of a program that intentionally caused damage without authorization to protected computers.

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November 7, 2023

Three Defendants Extradited from Germany, Morocco, and Romania to Face Charges Related to Russian Cyberfraud Scheme

“The defendants are charged with conspiring to defraud victims out of more than $48 million by stealing sensitive personal information, including social security numbers, and using it to buy and then resell electronics and luxury goods,” stated United States Attorney Peace. “This case shows that if criminals organize to target U.S. victims in their international crimes, our Office will unite with the international community to catch and bring them to justice.”

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October 13, 2023

Man Arrested in Multi-State Sex Trafficking Ring; 3 Victims Found at Monroeville, PA Motel

MONROEVILLE, Pa. — A man has been arrested in connection to a multi-state sex trafficking ring, and investigators said three victims were found at a motel in Monroeville.

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September 21, 2023

TRM Labs Joins Forces with the National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance (NCFTA) to Disrupt Threat of Cybercrime

TRM Labs, the leader in blockchain intelligence solutions, today announced it has joined the National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance (NCFTA), a trusted alliance of business and law enforcement created to disrupt the devastating and ever-changing threats from cybercrime. The partnership allows TRM Labs to share critical blockchain intelligence and investigative resources with the NCFTA and its network who collaborate to address the most urgent cyber-enabled threats.

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August 29, 2023

Qakbot Malware Disrupted in International Cyber Takedown

Qakbot malware infected more than 700,000 victim computers, facilitated ransomware deployments, and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. The action represents the largest U.S.-led financial and technical disruption of a botnet infrastructure leveraged by cybercriminals to commit ransomware, financial fraud, and other cyber-enabled criminal activity.

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July 24, 2023

SoCal Skimmer Gets Prison for Million-Dollar Financial Identity Theft Scheme

A Los Angeles resident was sentenced to 41 months in prison for repeatedly installing at least 54 skimming devices at gas pumps throughout Southern California. Haykaz Mansuryan is the third co-conspirator in this scheme to be sentenced. Two additional defendants are presently set for a jury trial. One defendant, Petros Armutyan, remains a fugitive. The remaining 3 defendants are pending sentencing.

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July 5, 2023

Suspected key figure of notorious cybercrime group arrested in joint operation

Operation Nervone has dealt a significant blow to the OPERA1ER group. Over the last four years, a highly-organized criminal organization has targeted financial institutions and mobile banking services with malware, phishing campaigns and large-scale Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams. Known as OPERA1ER, with aliases such as NX$M$, DESKTOP Group and Common Raven, the group is believed to have stolen an estimated USD 11 million - potentially as much as 30 million - in more than 30 attacks across 15 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

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June 14, 2023

Music Platforms Unite To Form Industry-Wide Anti-Fraud Alliance, "Music Fights Fraud"

Founding Members Include Digital Music Companies CD Baby and its parent company Downtown, TuneCore and its parent company Believe, DistroKid, UnitedMasters, Symphonic, EMPIRE, and Vydia as well as Digital Service Providers Spotify and Amazon Music. The National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance - a neutral third party - will operationalize protocol for the centralized prevention of cross-platform streaming fraud, currently costing the industry hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

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