(Washington, D.C.) An indictment returned today in New York adds new charges ofwire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, conspiracy to possess unauthorized access devices,
access device fraud, aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to commit computer fraud,computer fraud and counts of interception of electronic communications to those already
returned in a high-profile cyber investigation by the United States Secret Service.
The 27-count indictment returned in Central Islip, N.Y., charges Albert Gonzalez ofMiami with illegally accessing the computer systems of a national restaurant chain and
stealing credit and debit card numbers from that system. Todays indictment supersedes aone-count complaint against Gonzalez unsealed earlier this week. The original
indictment, returned on March 12, 2008, and unsealed on Monday, May 12, chargesMaksym Yastremskiy, of Kharkov, Ukraine, and Aleksandr Suvorov, of Sillamae,
Estonia, with the same criminal violations.
In September 2007, corporate officials with Dave & Busters, Inc. (D&B) notified theSecret Service of a network intrusion targeting payment terminals at 11 different D&B
restaurants located throughout the United States. The suspects were able to compromisecustomer credit card data that was subsequently resold for use in additional credit card
fraud schemes worldwide. An extensive investigation involving multiple U.S. SecretService offices nationwide definitively linked the three suspects to the intrusion.
This case demonstrates the global nature of cyber crime. With internet capabilitiesexpanding rapidly around the globe, the reach and potential for criminal intrusion are
greater than ever, said Secret Service Assistant Director Michael Stenger. Cooperationamong investigators throughout the Secret Service and our domestic and international
law enforcement partners, has led to these significant arrests. By combining ourinvestigative resources, we can transcend borders and more effectively address evolving
criminal methods.
The indictment alleges that in or about May 2007, Yastremskiy and Suvorov gainedunauthorized access to D&B cash register terminals and installed at each restaurant a
"packet sniffer," a malicious piece of computer code designed by Gonzalez to capturecommunications between two or more computer systems on a single network. The packet
sniffer was configured to capture Track 2 data as it moved from the restaurant's point-of-sale server through the computer system at the company's corporate headquarters to
the data processor's computer system. At one restaurant location, the packet sniffercaptured data for approximately 5,000 credit and debit cards, eventually causing losses of
at least $600,000 to the financial institutions that issued the credit and debit cards.
Acting on information provided by the U.S. Secret Service, Turkish officials arrestedYastremskiy in Turkey in July 2007. He remains in jail on potential violations of Turkish
law. A formal request for extradition of Yastremskiy to the United States has been madeto the Turkish government. At the request of the U.S. Secret Service, Suvorov was
arrested in March 2008 by German officials while visiting that country. He remains in jailin Germany, pending German action on a formal U.S. extradition request. U.S. Secret
Service officials arrested Gonzalez in Miami in May 2008. Gonzalez was previouslyarrested by the Secret Service in 2003 for access device fraud.
The United States Secret Service was originally founded in 1865 for the purpose ofsuppressing the counterfeiting of U. S. currency. Over the years it has grown into one of the
premier law enforcement organizations charged with investigating financial crimes. TheSecret Service has taken a lead role in the developing area of cyber crime, establishing
working partnerships in both the law enforcement and business communities to address suchissues as protection of critical infrastructure, internet intrusions and associated fraud.
Financial Investigations: Under DHS, the Secret Service made nearly 29,000criminal arrests for counterfeiting, cyber investigations and other financial crimes,
98% of which resulted in convictions, and seized more than $295 million incounterfeit currency. The Secret Service investigated and closed financial crimes
cases where actual loss amounted to $3.7 billion and prevented a potential loss ofmore than $12 billion.
Cyber Crime: The Secret Service continues to be the leading federal lawenforcement agency pursuing cyber criminals throughout the world. Successful
investigations include Operation Firewall (2004) and Operation Rolling Stone(2006), as well as multiple individual arrests around the world that have prevented
millions in fraud loss. The Service also continues to work with leading industrypartners, sharing intelligence with the financial community regarding cyber crime
trends as well as providing technical briefings which highlight currentvulnerabilities in the electronic payment systems.
Electronic Crimes Task Forces: The United States Secret Service has doubled itsElectronic Crimes Task Forces (ECTF) a successful public-private partnership
aimed at fighting high-tech computer-based crimes. The common focus of theECTF program, which now includes 24 nation-wide task forces, is to prevent,
detect, mitigate and aggressively investigate cyber attacks on the nations financialand critical infrastructures.
Public and Law Enforcement Education: From March 2003 to present theSecret Service provided over 34,000 hours education to the public regarding
financial crime, counterfeiting and identity theft. More than 120,000 copies ofseveral different instructional CDs were distributed by the Secret Service to help
front-line local, state and other federal officers understand and investigate high techand identity crimes. Because most these crimes fall under the jurisdiction of the
Secret Service, the agency has taken an aggressive stance and continues to be aleading agency for the investigation and prosecution of such criminal activity.
Source: U.S. Secret Service