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A California man who helped funnel stolen cash to a global network of hackers and carders was sentenced Thursday to 6 years in prison for conspiracy to launder money.
Cesar Carranza, 38, also known as "uBuyWeRush," ran a legitimate business selling liquidation and overstock merchandise online and from three California stores.
But, according to an indictment (.pdf), he also sold MSR-206's to carders to encode stolen bank card data onto blank cards, and he served as a conduit to transmit stolen money between mules and carders.
He worked with many of the top carders in the criminal underground between 2003 and 2006, including Maksim "Maksik" Yastremskiy, a Ukrainian carder who allegedly worked with TJX hacker Albert Gonzalez and was considered by authorities to be one of the top sellers of stolen card data on the internet.
In 2003 and 2004, Carranza became an approved and trusted vendor on online criminal forums such as CarderPlanet and Shadowcrew, advertising his goods and services and dispensing advice on the best tools to use for various criminal endeavors.
According to court records, he admitted in messages he posted to the forums that he himself had done carding between 1990 and 1998, but retired to become a vendor for other carders.
"I decided to supply all you guys making the real big bucks," he allegedly wrote. "So if you need me I sell Card Printers, Card Embossers, Tippers, Encoders, Small Readers and more."
He was first arrested in California in 2004, but was never charged with a crime. Although he was selling MSR-206s through eBay at the time, selling the devices is not illegal. Carranza told Threat Level, however, that police accused him of selling his merchandise to terrorists.
He subsequently sold off his MSR business. But, according to court records, his services as a money launderer for carders continued to flourish, even though it was clear that law enforcement agencies were closely watching him.
Hackers in East Europe and elsewhere would steal credit and debit card numbers and PINs through phishing and other means, then pass the data to so-called mules in the U.S., who would encode the numbers onto the magnetic stripe of blank cards, then use the cards to withdraw money from the accounts at ATMs. They would then send the money back to their co-conspirators in East Europe through Western Union or through e-Gold, an online digital currency.
Authorities say Carranza helped launder about $2.5 million in this way by operating as an e-Gold money exchanger. The mules would give him cash or deposit money into his bank account, and he would either transfer the money to the bank account of another e-Gold exchanger who would convert it to e-Gold for a carder, or he would change the money himself into e-Gold currency through his own e-Gold account, then transfer it to the e-Gold account of carders in East Europe and elsewhere. They would then use a local e-Gold money exchanger to convert the digital fund into their local currency.
One such mule who transmitted stolen money in this way described to Threat Level in 2006 how he obtained hundreds of stolen card numbers from Romanian phishers and Russian hackers that he met online. The man, who used the nickname "John Dillinger," withdrew more than $150,000 from ATM machines before transferring the money back to East Europe through Western Union and through an e-Gold money exchanger in California.
In addition to laundering stolen funds, authorities say Carranza was a middleman for carders to purchase "dumps" (account and other data stored on a bank card's magnetic stripe) from one another.
Around January 4, 2006, according to authorities, Carranza transferred about $15,000 worth of e-Gold to the e-Gold account of a carder who went by the nickname "CC-2" – a known specialist in hacking financial databases and siphoning card data to sell to other criminals. Carranza indicated in a note to the transaction that he was retaining a 6-percent commission for the service. He transferred another $45,000 worth of e-Gold to CC-2's account over the next two months. In March and April 2006, authorities say he also transferred $33,000 to Maksim Yastremskiy. The latter was arrested in Turkey in 2007 and sentenced to 30 years in prison there and is still wanted in the U.S. for his alleged role in the TJX carding ring.
Between 2003 and 2007, authorities say that more than $2 million went into and out of Carranza's e-Gold account.
In 2006, e-Gold, under investigation for facilitating money laundering between carders, froze two of Carranza's e-Gold accounts, which contained about $19,000 at the time. Carranza told Threat Level then that he was considering legal action against e-Gold to release his funds. "I no longer trust the e-gold integrity," he said. He didn't follow through on the threat.
He was indicted in 2008 on charges of conspiring to commit access device fraud and money laundering. He pleaded guilty last December to one count of conspiring to launder stolen money.
Cesar Carranza, 38, also known as "uBuyWeRush," ran a legitimate business selling liquidation and overstock merchandise online and from three California stores.
But, according to an indictment (.pdf), he also sold MSR-206's to carders to encode stolen bank card data onto blank cards, and he served as a conduit to transmit stolen money between mules and carders.
He worked with many of the top carders in the criminal underground between 2003 and 2006, including Maksim "Maksik" Yastremskiy, a Ukrainian carder who allegedly worked with TJX hacker Albert Gonzalez and was considered by authorities to be one of the top sellers of stolen card data on the internet.
In 2003 and 2004, Carranza became an approved and trusted vendor on online criminal forums such as CarderPlanet and Shadowcrew, advertising his goods and services and dispensing advice on the best tools to use for various criminal endeavors.
According to court records, he admitted in messages he posted to the forums that he himself had done carding between 1990 and 1998, but retired to become a vendor for other carders.
"I decided to supply all you guys making the real big bucks," he allegedly wrote. "So if you need me I sell Card Printers, Card Embossers, Tippers, Encoders, Small Readers and more."
He was first arrested in California in 2004, but was never charged with a crime. Although he was selling MSR-206s through eBay at the time, selling the devices is not illegal. Carranza told Threat Level, however, that police accused him of selling his merchandise to terrorists.
He subsequently sold off his MSR business. But, according to court records, his services as a money launderer for carders continued to flourish, even though it was clear that law enforcement agencies were closely watching him.
Hackers in East Europe and elsewhere would steal credit and debit card numbers and PINs through phishing and other means, then pass the data to so-called mules in the U.S., who would encode the numbers onto the magnetic stripe of blank cards, then use the cards to withdraw money from the accounts at ATMs. They would then send the money back to their co-conspirators in East Europe through Western Union or through e-Gold, an online digital currency.
Authorities say Carranza helped launder about $2.5 million in this way by operating as an e-Gold money exchanger. The mules would give him cash or deposit money into his bank account, and he would either transfer the money to the bank account of another e-Gold exchanger who would convert it to e-Gold for a carder, or he would change the money himself into e-Gold currency through his own e-Gold account, then transfer it to the e-Gold account of carders in East Europe and elsewhere. They would then use a local e-Gold money exchanger to convert the digital fund into their local currency.
One such mule who transmitted stolen money in this way described to Threat Level in 2006 how he obtained hundreds of stolen card numbers from Romanian phishers and Russian hackers that he met online. The man, who used the nickname "John Dillinger," withdrew more than $150,000 from ATM machines before transferring the money back to East Europe through Western Union and through an e-Gold money exchanger in California.
In addition to laundering stolen funds, authorities say Carranza was a middleman for carders to purchase "dumps" (account and other data stored on a bank card's magnetic stripe) from one another.
Around January 4, 2006, according to authorities, Carranza transferred about $15,000 worth of e-Gold to the e-Gold account of a carder who went by the nickname "CC-2" – a known specialist in hacking financial databases and siphoning card data to sell to other criminals. Carranza indicated in a note to the transaction that he was retaining a 6-percent commission for the service. He transferred another $45,000 worth of e-Gold to CC-2's account over the next two months. In March and April 2006, authorities say he also transferred $33,000 to Maksim Yastremskiy. The latter was arrested in Turkey in 2007 and sentenced to 30 years in prison there and is still wanted in the U.S. for his alleged role in the TJX carding ring.
Between 2003 and 2007, authorities say that more than $2 million went into and out of Carranza's e-Gold account.
In 2006, e-Gold, under investigation for facilitating money laundering between carders, froze two of Carranza's e-Gold accounts, which contained about $19,000 at the time. Carranza told Threat Level then that he was considering legal action against e-Gold to release his funds. "I no longer trust the e-gold integrity," he said. He didn't follow through on the threat.
He was indicted in 2008 on charges of conspiring to commit access device fraud and money laundering. He pleaded guilty last December to one count of conspiring to launder stolen money.