Five Romanians involved in administering one of the world's largest online platforms selling stolen data and cybercrime tools were tracked down in an international police operation.
"On March 3, officers of the Directorate for Combating Organized Crime - Cybercrime Unit, together with prosecutors of the Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism, carried out six home searches in the counties of Ilfov, Timis, Alba, Calarasi and Neamt, in a case concerning illegal operations with devices or software," the Press Office of the Romanian Police Inspectorate General said.
The action in Romania was part of a large global operation coordinated by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of International Affairs and Europol, involving authorities from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Greece, Kosovo, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom.
The investigation, launched after FBI inquiries into an online platform, led to the identification of five Romanian citizens involved in illegal operations with devices or software.
The platform sold stolen databases, access credentials, personal identification data, digital identities, credit and debit card numbers, and software vulnerabilities obtained through unauthorized access to victims' devices, along with tools for hacking and similar illegal activities.
By using this information, the buyers could access the victims' devices or online accounts.
Evidence gathered by Romanian police and DIICOT shows that between 2022 and 2025, the suspects repeatedly uploaded stolen access credentials - usernames, emails, passwords, access codes - allowing access to various accounts belonging to unidentified persons.
During the searches, data-storage devices were seized.
"As a result of the coordinated action, the platform was shut down, and the U.S. Department of Justice announced the seizure of its database - one of the largest online forums in the world for buying and selling stolen data and cybercrime tools," the Romanian Police Inspectorate General added.
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