Most wanted cyber-criminal 'BadB' nabbed

WASHINGTON, USA: One of the five most wanted cyber-criminals in the world who founded sophisticated Internet sites for trafficking credit card information has been detained in France, authorities said.

Vladislav Anatolieviech Horohorin, 27, was arrested at the Nice airport Saturday while he was on his way from Monaco to Moscow, said the US Secret Service and Justice Department.

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Washington Post on Thursday reported that Horohorin was indicted in November by a federal grand jury on charges of credit card fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Known online as "BadB", the Secret Service considers him to be one of its five most wanted cyber-criminals in the world.

He is part of a "network that has been repeatedly linked to nearly every major intrusion of financial information reported", Michael Merritt, the Secret Service's assistant director for investigations, was quoted as saying.

The cyber-criminal allegedly used online criminal sites to sell stolen credit card data, known as "dumps".

Court documents show that he also helped create the first and only fully automated site available to buyers worldwide. The site, Badb.biz, claims credit for stealing information from 1 million US nationals.

The site says: "We awaiting you to fight the imperialism of the USA. That way we invest US funds in Russian economy and make it grow bigger."

Horohorin is believed to have advertised the availability of stolen account information and directed undercover Secret Service purchasers to dumps.name, a site that he operated outside the US.

Horohorin was being held while awaiting extradition after French officials located him with US assistance, officials said.