The crackdown on cybercrime continues as authorities in the US and Portugal join forces to shut down a major player in the illegal marketplace. WT1SHOP, a notorious website known for selling stolen personal information (PII), has been taken offline, with Portuguese authorities seizing the site and US officials closing four associated domains.
The scale of the operation is staggering, with WT1SHOP offering around six million records for sale. Among the stolen data available were 25,000 scanned driver’s licenses and passports, 1.7 million login credentials for e-commerce sites, 108,000 bank accounts, and 21,800 credit cards. Buyers could purchase these records using Bitcoin, with over 100,000 users and sellers registered on the site.
The lure of stolen credentials proved to be a lucrative business, with the marketplace facilitating the sale of 2.4 million credentials at a cost of $4 million. These credentials included logins for retailers, financial institutions, email accounts, PayPal accounts, and ID cards. Additionally, credentials for remotely accessing and operating computers, servers, and network devices were also up for sale.
The alleged mastermind behind WT1SHOP, Nicolai Colesnicov, a 36-year-old from Moldova, has been charged with conspiracy and trafficking in unauthorized access devices. Law enforcement officials were able to trace Bitcoin sales on the site, payments made to the web host, and email addresses linked to WT1SHOP back to Colesnicov. If convicted, he faces a maximum of 10 years in federal prison.
This latest success in shutting down WT1SHOP adds to a string of victories in the fight against cybercrime this year. Other recent takedowns include the PII marketplace SSNDOB, Hydra Market, and RaidForums. With authorities around the world working together to tackle these illegal activities, criminals operating in the dark corners of the internet are finding it increasingly difficult to evade justice.