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A New York individual pleaded guilty to bank fraud conspiracy using stolen credit cards obtained on dark web cybercrime marketplaces. Trevor Osagie, a 31-year-old man from the Bronx, admitted that he was a key member of a group that ran a credit card scam that affected 4,000 account holders and caused damages of $1.5 million.
The crimes were committed between 2015 and 2018, via a network of co-conspirators in New Jersey/New York, using various means to launder their profits.
The sentence will be decided on May 25, 2023, and the defendant is currently facing a maximum sentence of 30 years in jail and a fine of $1,000,000.
How Did the Scam Happen?
It seems that Osagie bought thousands of credit and debit card records from underground markets. Credit card information frequently ends up on the dark web after being stolen from e-commerce websites compromised by skimmers, data-stealing malware, or ATM malware.
Osagie was also in charge of finding and supervising the people who would use the stolen credit card information. One of the gang members forged clone credit cards using the stolen information, suggesting the criminal organization may have had access to magnetic stripe data, explains Bleeping Computer.
Hamilton Eromosele, the ringleader, would use social media to find willing female operators, then send them on errands across the country to launder money. For his part in the fraud network, Eromosele was given a 110-month prison sentence in 2020.
These operators traveled across the United States using counterfeit cards to purchase gift cards and luxury products, which they then sold for cash. Eromosele would eventually collect the funds and distribute the agreed-upon cuts to the co-conspirators.
OSAGIE also communicated directly with other co-conspirators, including WIELINGEN, regarding the stolen payment card information, the locations where the co-conspirators should use the cards that had been created using the stolen payment card information, and percentages of the proceeds that OSAGIE expected to receive.
The U.S. Department of Justice’s announcement is available here.
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Madalina, a seasoned digital content creator at Heimdal®, blends her passion for cybersecurity with an 8-year background in PR & CSR consultancy. Skilled in making complex cyber topics accessible, she bridges the gap between cyber experts and the wider audience with finesse.
