The Justice Department has seized four web domains used in a cybercrime scheme that involved creating over 40,000 spoofed websites and storing the personal information of more than a million victims. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland stated, “Together with our international partners, the Justice Department has disrupted another cybercrime scheme originating from Russia that enabled criminals to steal from over a million victims in the United States and around the world.”
The domains were seized as part of an investigation into a spoofing service operated through the Lab-host.ru domain. Customers of LabHost used its services to create spoofed websites resembling legitimate businesses like Amazon, Netflix, and major banks. These websites were used to trick victims into disclosing their personal information, which was then used for unauthorized financial transactions. LabHost has been found to have created over 40,000 spoofed websites and stored over one million user credentials and nearly 500,000 compromised credit cards.
The seizure warrants targeted four domains associated with API services used in the cybercrime operations: Instapi-1xoa93z90o348fz.co, Api2-4hdfix74ks.co, Api1-9kcpqcf7olw1w300w3m6.cc, and Api-d789342789342uy432hjf87df87dfk.cc. U.S. Attorney Eric G. Olshan emphasized, “Today’s domain seizures show that cybercriminals’ greed will not go unchecked — no matter their sophistication and geographic reach.”
The shutdown of the LabHost platform through the domain seizures is expected to have a significant impact on transnational cybercrime. Special Agent in Charge Timothy P. Burke of the U.S. Secret Service stated, “We are proud to work with our foreign and domestic law enforcement partners as we continue to counter those engaged in cybercrime.” FBI Special Agent in Charge Kevin Rojek added, “The FBI and our global partners will continue to aggressively pursue anyone who thinks they can get rich by stealing from hard-working Americans.”
The domain seizures in the United States were carried out in conjunction with the international arrests of dozens of individuals in more than a dozen foreign countries. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark V. Gurzo is prosecuting the case, with the FBI and USSS investigating in the U.S. and international cooperation from various countries including the United Kingdom’s London Metropolitan Police, Europol, and the Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce.