FBI Busts Alleged BreachForums Admin in $250 Bitcoin Sting

A British man accused of working beneath the alias “IntelBroker” on cybercrime boards has been indicted for allegedly promoting stolen knowledge in a case that induced greater than $25 million in harm.

The US Southern District of New York Attorney’s Office introduced Kai West’s indictment on Wednesday. West allegedly operated on on-line black markets beneath the IntelBroker pseudonym and induced in extra of $25 million in harm to victims.

Former US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair and lawyer Jay Clayton was among the many individuals liable for unsealing the indictment. “This action reflects the FBI’s commitment to pursuing cybercriminals around the world,” he mentioned.

West reportedly conspired with on-line cybercrime group CyberN***ers to steal knowledge from a number of corporations. Those included a telecommunications firm, a municipal healthcare supplier, an web service supplier and over 40 different companies.

Undercover buy triggered fees

According to the criticism, an undercover legislation enforcement agent despatched a personal message to IntelBroker to buy knowledge of a sufferer for $250 value of Bitcoin (BTC). An handle attributed to West was offered, and after the cost, the info was delivered, allegedly together with three admin-level usernames and passwords.

West and his on-line collaborators reportedly supplied the illicitly acquired knowledge on the market for over $2 million. He was then arrested in France in February, and the US is at the moment in search of his extradition.

FBI Assistant Director in Charge Christopher Raia mentioned West is a “serial hacker” and that he was capable of “sell it for millions in illicit funds.” IntelBroker was energetic on the now-defunct cybercrime discussion board BreachForums.

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According to the announcement, a assessment of the 158 threads allegedly began by West supplied stolen knowledge on the market, in Forum-1 credit (BreachForums’ inner foreign money), in addition to without cost. He was reportedly energetic from roughly January 2023 to February 2025, with at the very least 41 of his threads promoting knowledge from corporations based mostly in the US.

Of these 158 threads, 16 posts included a selected asking value for the info, reaching a complete of at the very least $2,467,000. Messages allegedly written by West additionally confirmed that he accepted funds through privateness coin Monero (XMR).

IntelBroker achieved notoriety on BreachForums to the extent that he was recognized as the location’s proprietor beginning in August 2024.

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Data leaks and breaches proceed occurring

The information follows the current leak of greater than 16 billion login credentials from main on-line service suppliers, which might have potential penalties for cryptocurrency holders. Earlier this month, it was reported that Coinbase was knowledgeable in January that an worker of an outsourcing agency might have leaked buyer knowledge.

The breach was disclosed in mid-May, when a $20 million extortion try hit Coinbase after cybercriminals recruited abroad help brokers to leak person knowledge. “These insiders abused their access to customer support systems to steal the account data for a small subset of customers,” Coinbase mentioned on the time.

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