SEATTLE, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- A Russian man was convicted in Seattle of 38 counts related to hacking into point-of-sale retail computer terminals to steal credit card information.
Trial testimony indicated he gathered more than two million credit card numbers and caused 3,700 financial institutions to lose over $169 million.
Roman Seleznev, 32, also known as "Track2," was convicted Thursday of 10 counts of wire fraud, eight counts of intentional damage to a protected computer, nine counts of obtaining information from a protected computer, nine counts of possession of 15 or more unauthorized access devices and two counts of aggravated identity theft after an eight-day trial, a Department of Justice statement said. His sentencing is scheduled for December 2.
Prosecutors said Seleznev hacked into store computer terminals, many of them in small businesses in Washington state, and installed malicious software, taking credit card information which he stored on a server in Russia and then bundled and sold to buyers ready to use them for fraudulent purchases.
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Seleznev was carrying a laptop computer containing 1.7 million stolen credit card numbers when he was taken into custody in the Maldives in 2014, and later transported to Guam and then to Seattle.
Seleznev is the son of a member of the Russian Duma, Valery Seleznev.
The Russian government said Thursday the charges against Seleznev were politically motivated and that he was kidnapped by U.S. authorities, not arrested. Konstantin Dolgov of the Russian Foreign Ministry commented, "We, of course, will continue providing for him the consulate-legal assistance, will support work of lawyers. The lawyers have said already they will file appeals...It is clear already in the case with Seleznev we witness a clear and inadmissible incident of [a] violated right of the Russian citizen."
