The U.S. Justice Department seized the cybercrime marketplace Popeyetools and charged its administrators for facilitating ransomware and fraud, uncovering $283,000 in crypto assets.
Why Cybercrime Marketplace goes down
Popeyetools, a cybercrime marketplace, has been apprehended by the U.S. Justice Department, which has also disclosed its involvement in illicit cryptocurrency transactions.
Abdul Ghaffar, Abdul Sami, and Javed Mirza were accused of facilitating offenses involving ransomware and fraud and selling stolen financial data. Popeyetools has generated $1.7 million in revenue since 2016, a portion of which has been derived from cryptocurrency payments.
Additionally, the company has sold stolen credit card data and personally identifiable information. Additionally, authorities confiscated $283,000 in cryptocurrency from a wallet that Sami was in control of.
The platform, which advertised services such as “Live Fullz” and tools for authenticating stolen financial data, was dismantled through global collaboration, as emphasized by U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross.
The defendants are subject to a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for each charge if they are found guilty. International law enforcement was the focus of the case, which underscored the importance of a strong posture against crypto-enabled crime.