The Shadowcrew organisation and its associated website,
Shadowcrew.com, was a hub of online identity theft activity,
facilitating online trafficking in stolen identity information and
documents, as well as over 1.5 million stolen credit and debit card
numbers.
In all, the losses incurred as a result of the conspiracy
amounted to over $4 million, said the Justice Department.
The operation was closed down in October 2004 after a year-long
investigation by the Secret Service. Twenty-one were arrested in
the US and other arrests were made abroad. To date, 12 people have
pleaded guilty.
Six of these – Andrew Mantovani, 23, of Scottsdale, Arizona; Kim
Taylor, 47, of Arcadia, California; Jeremy Stephens, 31, of
Charlotte, North Carolina; Brandon Monchamp, 22, of Scottsdale,
Arizona; Omar Dhanani, 22, of Fountain Valley, California; and
Jeremy Zielinski, 22, of Longwood, Florida – pleaded guilty on
Thursday.
Another man, Wesley Lanning, 22, of Grove City, Ohio, pleaded
guilty to the conspiracy on Wednesday, following Rogerio Rodrigues
22, of Chicago, who pleaded guilty on 22nd September.
According to prosecutors, the “Shadowcrew” members face up to
five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 for conspiracy
to commit credit and bank card fraud, as well as identification
document fraud.
One member of the gang, Mantovani, also pleaded guilty to a
second count of unlawful transfer of identification to facilitate
criminal conduct; admitting his role in illegally obtaining
approximately 18 million email accounts with associated personal
identifying information.
He could be sentenced to a further five years and a fine of
$250,000 for this offence.
During his guilty plea, Mantovani acknowledged his role as
co-founder and administrator of the Shadowcrew website, said the
Justice Department. As such, Mantovani had the power to control the
direction of the organisation as well as the day-to-day management
of the website.
He admitted using techniques such as phishing and spamming to
illegally obtain credit and bank card information, which he then
used to make purchases online.
“These individuals proved in a big way that the internet can be
a dangerous place where consumers can be victimised without
warning,” said US Attorney Christopher Christie. “But as this case
also shows, criminals operating in the virtual world of the
internet are not ultimately anonymous. Their crimes can be traced
and documented, and they can be tracked down, arrested, prosecuted
and sent to prison.”
Sentencing will take place in late February and early March.
