Hackers extort victims

Two men broke into a federal law enforcement database and a Bangladeshi police officer’s email account to conduct extortion schemes, U.S. law enforcement officials say. A federal court in New York unsealed an indictment Tuesday against 19-year-old Sagar Steven Singh and 25-year-old Nicholas Ceraolo, who are accused of illegally collecting personal information about specific people and threatening to post it on a public website unless the victims met their demands. Singh, of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, was arrested in that city Tuesday, according to prosecutors. Ceraolo, of Brooklyn, remains at large. They were part of a crime group called “ViLE” that specialized in doxxing, or posting sensitive information about people online, according to the indictment. The pair “unlawfully used a police officer’s stolen password to access a restricted database maintained by a federal law enforcement agency that contains (among other data) detailed, nonpublic records of narcotics and currency seizures, as well as law enforcement intelligence reports,” officials said. In one case, Singh ordered a victim to hand over the credentials to an Instagram account, prosecutors said. Singh told his target, “you’re gonna comply to me if you don’t want anything negative to happen to your parents,” according to the indictment. Singh ultimately ordered the victim to sell the Instagram account and give the money to him, prosecutors said. The alleged scam involving the foreign police officer’s account was more complicated: Ceraolo allegedly “posed as a police officer to obtain subscriber information from various online service providers,” prosecutors said, then illicitly accessed “an official email account belonging to a Bangladeshi police official.” The goal was to use the email account to request data from companies — including a social media company and a gaming platform — about specific customers, the indictment said. Ceraolo told one social media company to “provide information about one of its subscribers … by asserting that the subscriber had participated in ‘child extortion’ and blackmail and had threatened officials of the Bangladeshi government,” prosecutors said. Employees of a gaming platform detected the scam, prosecutors said, causing Ceraolo to threaten to hack the company and sell its data on a dark web market. Ceraolo allegedly then found an associate to send the company a “a forged subpoena” that sought registration details about the platform’s administrators. The company did not comply, prosecutors said. If convicted, Ceraolo faces up to 20 years in prison on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Separately, Ceraolo and Singh face up to five years in prison for conspiracy to commit computer intrusions.

Two men, Sagar Steven Singh and Nicholas Ceraolo, have been indicted for illegally accessing personal information of specific individuals and using it to extort them. Singh and Ceraolo were part of a crime group called “ViLE” that specialized in doxxing, or posting sensitive information about people online. They illegally accessed a restricted database maintained by a federal law enforcement agency that contained detailed, nonpublic records of narcotics and currency seizures, as well as law enforcement intelligence reports, using a police officer's stolen password. They also posed as a police officer to obtain subscriber information from various online service providers and illicitly accessed an official email account belonging to a Bangladeshi police official to request data from companies. If convicted, Ceraolo faces up to 20 years in prison on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and both Ceraolo and Singh face up to five years in prison for conspiracy to commit computer intrusions.

Two men broke into a federal law enforcement database and a Bangladeshi police officer’s email account to conduct extortion schemes, U.S. law enforcement officials say. A federal court in New York unsealed an indictment Tuesday against 19-year-old Sagar Steven Singh and 25-year-old Nicholas Ceraolo, who are accused of illegally collecting personal information about specific people and threatening to post it on a public website unless the victims met their demands. Singh, of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, was arrested in that city Tuesday, according to prosecutors. Ceraolo, of Brooklyn, remains at large. They were part of a crime group called “ViLE” that specialized in doxxing, or posting sensitive information about people online, according to the indictment. The pair “unlawfully used a police officer’s stolen password to access a restricted database maintained by a federal law enforcement agency that contains (among other data) detailed, nonpublic records of narcotics and currency seizures, as well as law enforcement intelligence reports,” officials said. In one case, Singh ordered a victim to hand over the credentials to an Instagram account, prosecutors said. Singh told his target, “you’re gonna comply to me if you don’t want anything negative to happen to your parents,” according to the indictment. Singh ultimately ordered the victim to sell the Instagram account and give the money to him, prosecutors said. The alleged scam involving the foreign police officer’s account was more complicated: Ceraolo allegedly “posed as a police officer to obtain subscriber information from various online service providers,” prosecutors said, then illicitly accessed “an official email account belonging to a Bangladeshi police official.” The goal was to use the email account to request data from companies — including a social media company and a gaming platform — about specific customers, the indictment said. Ceraolo told one social media company to “provide information about one of its subscribers … by asserting that the subscriber had participated in ‘child extortion’ and blackmail and had threatened officials of the Bangladeshi government,” prosecutors said. Employees of a gaming platform detected the scam, prosecutors said, causing Ceraolo to threaten to hack the company and sell its data on a dark web market. Ceraolo allegedly then found an associate to send the company a “a forged subpoena” that sought registration details about the platform’s administrators. The company did not comply, prosecutors said. If convicted, Ceraolo faces up to 20 years in prison on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Separately, Ceraolo and Singh face up to five years in prison for conspiracy to commit computer intrusions. 400 words

The news reports that two men, Sagar Steven Singh and Nicholas Ceraolo, have been accused of breaking into a federal law enforcement database and a Bangladeshi police officer's email account to conduct extortion schemes. The two were allegedly part of a crime group called "ViLE" that specialized in doxxing or posting sensitive information about people online. They are said to have illegally collected personal information about specific people and threatened to post it on a public website unless their demands were met. Singh, who is 19 years old and from Pawtucket, Rhode Island, was arrested on Tuesday. Ceraolo, who is 25 years old and from Brooklyn, remains at large. The pair face charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit computer intrusions, and if convicted, they could face up to 20 years and five years in prison, respectively. According to the indictment, Singh ordered a victim to hand over the credentials to an Instagram account and threatened the victim's parents with negative consequences if they did not comply. Singh then allegedly ordered the victim to sell the Instagram account and give the money to him. Ceraolo's alleged scam involving the foreign police officer's account was more complex. He allegedly posed as a police officer to obtain subscriber information from various online service providers and then illicitly accessed an official email account belonging to a Bangladeshi police official. Ceraolo then used the email account to request data from companies, including a social media company and a gaming platform, about specific customers. Ceraolo allegedly told one social media company to provide information about one of its subscribers by asserting that the subscriber had participated in "child extortion" and blackmail and had threatened officials of the Bangladeshi government. When employees of a gaming platform detected the scam, Ceraolo allegedly threatened to hack the company and sell its data on a dark web market. He then allegedly found an associate to send the company a forged subpoena seeking registration details about the platform's administrators. The company did not comply with the subpoena. Overall, the case highlights the importance of maintaining strong cybersecurity measures and protecting personal information. The defendants' alleged actions, if proven true, demonstrate the potential harm that can be caused by cybercriminals who gain unauthorized access to sensitive data.