Earned more than 2 million on the sale of accounts. Investigation completed

[✨ Megiddo]

The Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee completed an investigation into a criminal case on the illegal distribution of data for access to accounts and electronic wallets.

Investigators found that a 40-year-old resident of the Minsk region came up with a « profitable » scheme of earnings in the virtual space to improve his financial situation.

Back in 2015, the man found out that you can make money on selling other people's credentials on the Internet and decided not to stay away. True, his earnings were not entirely legal. On the darknet, he purchased data from user accounts of various Internet resources, after which he sold them two, or even three times more expensive. To implement his criminal plan in 2019, he created an online store on one of the trading floors for the sale of digital products. By the way, in order not to lose money, in some cases the man first found buyers, and only then looked for data of interest to them.

For a long time, the scheme worked and brought income, but in August 2022, law enforcement officers took the trail of « gorr-businessman ».

The investigation found that six months before the suppression of this activity, the accused made 350 episodes of data dissemination for access to accounts and electronic wallets.

At the end, the man said that he specialized in selling accounts of foreign cryptobirges, but also did not disdain to implement data to access user pages on social networks. He also admitted that he was aware of the wrongfulness of the actions he carried out, but the desire to earn exceeded common sense.

During the search at the place of residence of the defendant, about 100 thousand US dollars, 28 bank payment cards, computer equipment and various storage media were discovered and seized, which contained traces of his activities in the implementation of accounts.

When examining the cryptocochelons of the accused, a large amount of tokenized assets was discovered in them.

The main investigative department has developed an algorithm for the withdrawal and conversion of cryptocurrency. Thanks to this, the assets discovered by the accused were withdrawn from the digital environment, the amount of which amounted to about 2 million rubles. Currently, the issue of converting the received funds into state revenue is being resolved.

Investigators also found that the accused deduced part of the cryptocurrency through the Bitok.me shadow cryptocompontist. In addition, in the framework of international cooperation with the Russian Federation, information was received confirming the facts of the opening and subsequent use of electronic wallets, the details of access to which were implemented by the accused.

During the period of criminal activity, the defendant and his family did not need anything, while none of the loved ones was interested in where the head of the family takes money for « beautiful life ».

When studying the identity of the accused, it was established that he was registered as an IP, but since 2018 he has not carried out his activities. What is remarkable in order to avert suspicions and not be exposed to a serious crime, a man paid taxes as an entrepreneur. The accused did not fall into the field of view of law enforcement officers.

The actions of a 40-year-old man are qualified under Part 2 of Article 222 ( illegal circulation of means of payment and instruments, committed on an especially large scale ) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus. The accused pleaded guilty and repented of his deed.

The investigation of the criminal case has been completed, the materials have been transferred to the prosecutor for referral to court.

For reference: the sanction of this article provides for a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Department of Information and Public Relations