U.S. Releases High-Profile Russian Hackers in Diplomatic Prisoner Exchange

Aug 02, 2024Ravie LakshmananCyber Crime / Hacking News

In a historic prisoner exchange between Belarus, Germany, Norway, Russia, Slovenia, and the U.S., two Russian nationals serving time for cybercrime activities have been freed and repatriated to their country.

This includes Roman Valerevich Seleznev and Vladislav Klyushin, who are part of a group of eight people who have been swapped back to Russia in exchange for the release of 16 people who were held in detention, counting four Americans, five Germans and seven Russians citizens who were held as political prisoners.

U.S. President Joe Biden called the deal a "feat of diplomacy," adding "some of these women and men have been unjustly held for years." Other nations that played a role in the swap include Poland and Turkey.

Among those released from Russia are former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Vladimir Kara-Murza, a green-card holder and a prominent critic of Russian president Vladimir Putin, and Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva.

Seleznev, also known by the aliases Track2, Bulba, and nCux, was sentenced in 2017 to 27 years in prison for payment card fraud, causing nearly $170 million in damages to small businesses and financial institutions in the U.S. He was subsequently handed another 14-year jail term for his role in a $50 million cyber fraud ring and for defrauding banks of $9 million through a hacking scheme.

The other Russian national going home is Klyushin, the owner of security penetration testing firm M-13 who was sentenced in the U.S. last September for stealing confidential financial information from U.S. companies in a $93 million insider-trading scheme.

"Not since the Cold War has there been a similar number of individuals exchanged in this way and there has never, so far as we know, been an exchange involving so many countries, so many close U.S. partners and allies working together," National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan was quoted as saying.

The development comes as the U.K. National Crime Agency (NCA) announced the shutdown of a fraud platform called Russian Coms ("russiancoms[.]cm") that allowed its customers to make over 1.3 million anonymous calls between 2021 and 2024 by masquerading as banks and law enforcement agencies.

Three individuals allegedly linked to the creation and development of the platform have been arrested and subsequently released on conditional bail. The caller ID spoofing solution, marketed through Snapchat, Instagram and Telegram, cost anywhere from £350 to £1,000 and was available as a bespoke handset and, later, as a web app.

"The platform allowed criminals to hide their identity by appearing to call from pre-selected numbers, most commonly of financial institutions, telecommunications companies, and law enforcement agencies," the NCA said. "This enabled them to gain the trust of victims before stealing their money and personal details."

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