Denis Gennadievich Kulkov, 43, is believed to be living in Samara, Russia. On Wednesday, federal prosecutors charged him with running an illicit credit card-checking program used by cybercriminals. Photo courtesy of U.S. State Department/
WebsiteMay 4 (UPI) — The United States has charged a 43-year-old Russian with running a network of websites cybercriminals use to verify stolen credit cards, prosecutors said, with the Biden administration offering a $10 million reward for information that leads to his arrest.
Denis Gennadievich Kulkov is believed to reside in Samara, Russia, and is accused of having created the electronic Try2Check platform of websites in 2005, which prosecutors said has been used to verify the authenticity of tens of millions of stolen credit card numbers and determine if they are still active.
According to prosecutors, stolen credit card numbers are often sold in bulk via online marketplaces known as carding forums.
As an unknown number of cards in any batch may be inactive when stolen or deactivated soon afterward, card-checking services such as Try2Check have become valuable auxiliary services for cybercriminals to verify the stolen properties’ authenticity and determine what percentage of them has value.
Prosecutors said Try2Check allowed cybercriminals to upload thousands of credit card numbers at one time and an report confirming how many were active was instantly produced.
The service not only victimized those whose stolen credit cards were being checked but also an unnamed major U.S.-based payment processing company that was misused to perform the checks.
According to the indictment, a single check cost a cybercriminal the equivalent of 20 cents in bitcoin, earning Kulkov between June 2014 and November 2022 at least $18 million — ill-gotten proceeds that he used to buy luxury goods, including a Ferrari sports car.
Prosecutors said tens of millions of stolen credit card numbers were ran through Try2Check every year.
Kulkov was charged in a four-count indictment unsealed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York with access device fraud, computer intrusion and money laundering.
Coinciding with the unsealing of the indictment, the United States and allies Germany and Austria worked in tandem to remove Try2Checks’ websites from the Internet in an effort to dismantle Kulkov’s criminal network.
“Today is a bad day for criminals who relied on the defendant’s platform as the gold standard to verify that the credit cards they stole from hard-working individuals living in the Eastern District of New York and across the world had value,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York said in a statement.
“Today’s indictment and global takedown of the Try2Check website demonstrates that the office, together with our partners, will disrupt cybercrime operations no matter where they are based.”
A warrant for Kulkov’s arrest was issued on April 18, according to the U.S. State Department, which has offered a reward of up to $10 million for information that leads to his arrest and a separate $1 million for information identifying other key leaders of the Try2Check platform.
