In the News

Sharing threat information among peers benefits all parties through awareness, informed decision making, and increased resilience.  The NCFTA sharing model also 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.

Featured Stories

May 23, 2025

Mr. Honesty can't live up to his name. Sentenced to four years in prison for his role in multiple cybercrimes and fraud schemes.

Marco Honesty was sentenced to four years in prison on May 23, 2025, for multiple cybercrimes and fraud schemes including: Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) fraud resulting in more than $500,000 loss to the SBA, smishing and bank account takeovers, fraudulent money orders, and identify theft.

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January 29, 2025

California Conspirators Funneled $59m in Unemployment Compensation Benefits to China

Defendants and others entered into a series of agreements to make it appear as if they were operating legitimate businesses selling masks and other COVID19 personal protective equipment. In reality, the funds that the defendants obtained and laundered through their companies were derived from fraudulently obtained state unemployment compensation (“UC”) benefits. According to the indictment, unnamed members of the conspiracy, including some believed to be located in China, established thousands of accounts at banks across the United States using the personal identifying information (“PII”) of identity theft victims. From there, fraudulent UC claims were generated and paid to these accounts.

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October 15, 2024

New York State's First-Ever Missing Child Rescue Operation Results in Successful Location of 47 Children Reported Missing in Erie County

The New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) today announced that 47 children who were reported missing in Erie County have been located through a first-of-its-kind Missing Child Rescue Operation in the state.

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August 19, 2024

Nigerian Man Arrested in Alleged $10 Million Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Fraud Scheme

BOSTON – A Nigerian man was arrested on Aug. 13, 2024 upon arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City on charges that he, and others, conspired to fraudulently obtain at least $10 million in COVID-19 unemployment benefits.

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August 20, 2024

SENTENCED! : Kentucky Man Who Faked His Own Death Sentenced to 81 Months for Cyber Intrusion and Aggravated Identity Theft

UPDATE: On August 19, 2024, Jesse Kipf, 39, was sentenced to 81 months for computer fraud and aggravated identity theft. Kipf plead guilty to hacking into state death registry systems and private business, and selling access to networks on the dark web. Previously, in November 2023, Kipf, was 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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August 12, 2024

Belarusian-Ukrainian Cybercriminal known as "J.P. Morgan" faces decades in prison after being extradited from Poland.

Following an extensive international law enforcement investigation, Maksim Silnikau, aka "J.P. Morgan" was extradited to the U.S. from Poland. Silnikau is believed to be one of the world's most prolific Russian-speaking cybercrime actors and the founder of ransomware-as-a-service group Reveton. The U.K. National Crime Agency (NCA), FBI, Secret Service, Guardia Civil of Spain, Security Service of Ukraine Cyber Department and many other law enforcement agencies coordinated on the investigation.

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July 26, 2024

Operation Chakra-II: India's CBI takes Action to dismantle major cyber crime network, arrests 43

India's Central Bureau of Investigation arrests 43 and disrupts major international criminal call center responsible for targeting victims globally.

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July 19, 2024

UK Arrests Suspected Scattered Spider Hacker Linked to MGM Attack

UK police have arrested a 17-year-old boy suspected of being involved in the 2023 MGM Resorts ransomware attack and a member of the Scattered Spider hacking collective...the arrest is part of a broader investigation conducted by the National Crime Agency and the FBI into a hacking group known to breach networks, steal data, and deploy ransomware in extortion schemes.

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May 29, 2024

911 S5 Botnet Dismantled and Its Administrator Arrested in Coordinated International Operation

YunHe Wang, a People's Republic of China national, was arrested on May 24 on charges that he created and operated the world's largest botnet and deployed malware across millions of residential Windows computers worldwide. Wang generated millions of dollars by offering cybercriminals access to these infected computers for a fee.

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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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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 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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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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April 11, 2022

Justice Department Investigation Leads to Shutdown of Largest Online Darknet Marketplace

Russian Resident Indicted on Conspiracy Charges Related to Operating Hydra Market

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May 17, 2023

Memphis Man Charged with Trafficking Counterfeit Airbags from China

Mohammed Al-Abadi imported counterfeit motor vehicle airbag parts from China, assembled them and then sold them on eBay to unsuspecting automobile repair shops and individual customers. Federal agents recovered more than 2,000 counterfeit airbags and parts from the defendant’s residence and place of business.

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March 27, 2023

Five Family Members Sentenced to Prison and Ordered to Forfeit a Combined $51.9 Million Dollars in Proceeds from Their Fraudulent Sale of Counterfeit Trademarked Cellular Phones and Accessories

The family members operated a multi-million dollar scheme wherein they sold counterfeit cellphones and cellphone accessories on Amazon.com and eBay.com which they misrepresented as new and genuine Apple and Samsung products.

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March 15, 2023

Takedown of Darknet Cryptocurrency Mixer that Processed Over $3 Billion of Unlawful Transactions

The Justice Department announced a coordinated international takedown of ChipMixer, a darknet cryptocurrency “mixing” service responsible for laundering more than $3 billion worth of cryptocurrency, between 2017 and the present, in furtherance of, among other activities, ransomware, darknet market, fraud, cryptocurrency heists and other hacking schemes.

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February 28, 2023

Indictment Charges Alleged Darknet Marketplace Fentanyl Dealer

Jacob Blair, of Coraopolis Pennsylvania was charged with running a counterfeit drug conspiracy that sold fentanyl and methamphetamine disguised as Oxycontin, Xanax and Adderall on a Darknet Marketplace.

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February 27, 2023

California Man Sentenced to More Than 11 Years in Prison for Role in International Conspiracy to Launder Money Taken from Fraud Victims

A Carson man who was a central figure in an international fraud and money-laundering network that targeted $25 million through a variety of frauds – including romance scams and elder fraud – was sentenced today to 135 months in federal prison.

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February 8, 2023

Missouri Couple Sentenced for Selling Counterfeit Disney Movies on eBay

A Columbia, Mo., couple was sentenced in federal court for a scheme to smuggle counterfeit Disney DVDs into the United States and sell them on eBay. Tabitha Rodgers was sentenced to four years in prison while her husband, Clint Rodgers, was sentenced to one year in federal prison.

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December 14, 2022

Oregon Man Sentenced for Illegally Trafficking Counterfeit Gun Parts for Use as Airsoft Accessories

On December 13, 2022, a Happy Valley, Oregon man was sentenced to federal probation for illegally trafficking counterfeit gun accessories, including suppressors, scopes, grips and sights, from China for resale as airsoft gun accessories. Johnny Li, 25, was sentenced to five years’ federal probation, including 180 days of home detention, and ordered to pay $281,628 in restitution.

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December 13, 2022

Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office Announces the Seizure of 55 Domain Names that Violated Copyrights by Illegally Live Streaming the World Cup

Baltimore, Maryland – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland has announced the seizure of 55 separate websites for allegedly live streaming the World Cup games, an infringement of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) copyrights. Individuals visiting the sites will now see a message that the site has been seized by the federal government and be redirected to another site for additional information.

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October 31, 2022

Latham Company Pays $75,000 for Selling Counterfeit Batteries to Department of Defense

Industrial Equipment and Supply Company, LLC (IESC) and its principals, Mark Nystoriak and Sandra Nystoriak, of Latham, New York have agreed to pay $75,000 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act for selling counterfeit batteries to the federal government on a contract valued at $33,928.60.

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October 7, 2022

Chainalysis Joins NCFTA, Enabling Advanced Blockchain Analysis to Fight Cyber-Crime

Chainalysis, the blockchain data platform, today announced that it has joined the National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance (NCFTA), a nonprofit corporation focused on identifying, validating, mitigating, and neutralizing cyber-crime threats. Chainalysis’ data platform equips the alliance with the same investigative tools that have been used to help solve some of the world’s most high-profile cyber criminal cases and grow consumer access to cryptocurrency safely.

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