WIREDGOV

Two cyber criminals who provided a range of services to credit card fraudsters have been sentenced to almost 5 years after facilitating fraud valued at more than £26.9m.

Jay Moore, who used the online moniker of ‘t0pp8uzz’, set up the ‘Freshshop’ website to facilitate the bulk sale of stolen financial data.  He recruited Damian Horne, known by the online moniker of ‘GM’, to assist in his online criminality.

Moore and Horne, who met through an online ‘hackers’ chat forum commenced their criminal activities by selling stolen iTunes vouchers and other online gaming codes on eBay.

Within a short space of time the two escalated their criminal enterprise to sell compromised credit card data and launder the proceeds of their criminality through a network of bank accounts, online financial institutions and overseas money exchangers.

Moore, who had no formal qualifications, used his advanced computer knowledge to hack into computer systems and obtain databases of payment card information which he then made available through his website Freshshop, which was designed to look and operate like any other online retail site. In addition to selling information he had obtained himself, he also allowed other like minded criminals to sell their compromised data on the website, for which he received a commission.

Horne used his personal bank account to receive criminal funds received through the website and posted bundles of cash to Moore.

When SOCA Officers raided his parents’ home in 2011, Moore was found in control of a bank of computers logged on to the Freshshop website.  A search of his bedroom revealed a safe which contained over £80,700 in cash.

Enquiries identified assets purchased as a result of his criminality including a top of the range BMW motor car and personalised registration plate which alone was valued at over £10,000. Such was Moore’s wealth that he also provided some £40,000 to help his father buy a substantial farm house, and attributed his earnings to a fake web design business created purely to hide his criminal activity.

Analysis of Moore’s computers revealed that he held the payment card details of more than 340,000 individuals, and fraud losses attributed to card details available on his website have been reported as being in excess of £26.9m by the card issuers.  This is in reality a conservative figure and the actual loss is likely to be considerably more.  In addition to the fraud attributed to specific cards, the information brokered by Moore would also have been sufficient to enable fake bank accounts to be set up.  These could in turn be used to commit further fraud, such as cheque or identity fraud.

The sale of this compromised data earned Moore substantial profits, including £170,000 credited to his bank account and £80,700 in a safe at his home in Cromhall, Gloucestershire.

In a further effort to conceal the large sums of cash flowing in to his bank account, Moore recruited two friends to collect money on his behalf from Western Union outlets in the Bristol area. These two individuals (Lewis Danter, 20, from Coalpit Heath & John Allen, 22, from Bedminster Down) pleaded guilty to money laundering offences at Bristol Magistrates Court at an earlier hearing.

SOCA is continuing to investigate those persons who used the Freshshop website.

Sentencing:

Moore pleaded guilty to 12 charges related to fraud, money laundering and computer misuse at Bristol Crown on 1st of June and was sentenced to 3 yrs.

Damien Horne also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 21 months.

Moore will be subject to a Serious Crime Prevention Order under Section 19 Serious Crime Act 2007 which includes;

Restrictions on Bank Accounts
Restriction and Notification on Virtual Currency Accounts
Restrictions on Possession of Cash
Restriction on and Notification of Money Transfers
Restriction & Notification of Communication Devices
Restriction on & Notification of Email Accounts