Russian, Kazakhstani men living in Miami indicted over cybercrime training service | CyberScoop<\/title> <meta name=\"description\" content=\"The pair stand accused of administering WWH Club, a major Russian-language cybercrime marketplace.\"> <link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/russian-kazakhstani-men-living-in-miami-indicted-over-cybercrime-training-service\/\"> <meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\"> <meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\"> <meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Russian, Kazakhstani men living in Miami indicted over cybercrime training service\"> <meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The pair stand accused of administering WWH Club, a major Russian-language cybercrime marketplace.\"> <meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/russian-kazakhstani-men-living-in-miami-indicted-over-cybercrime-training-service\/\"> <meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CyberScoop\"> <meta property=\"article:published_time\" 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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<section id=\"stickybar\" class=\"stickybar stickybar--event js-stickybar\">\n<div class=\"stickybar__details\" readability=\"4.952380952381\">\n<div class=\"stickybar__info js-sticky-bar-content\" readability=\"32\">\n<p>Voting is open for the 2024 CyberScoop 50 awards! <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <a class=\"stickybar__link button button-tertiary\" href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/cyberscoop50\/vote\/\">Click here!<\/a> <\/div>\n<p> <button class=\"stickybar__close js-stickybar-close\" aria-controls=\"stickybar\"> <svg class=\"icon icon--close\" width=\"21\" height=\"22\" viewBox=\"0 0 21 22\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"m.822.518-.805.805L9.695 11 .017 20.678l.805.805 9.678-9.678 9.677 9.678.806-.805L11.305 11l9.678-9.677-.806-.805-9.677 9.677L.822.518Z\" fill=\"currentColor\" \/><\/svg> <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Close<\/span> <\/button> <\/section>\n<article class=\"single-article content\">\n<div class=\"single-article__container js-single-article-content\">\n<header class=\"single-article__header \" readability=\"24.648897058824\">\n<div class=\"single-article__header-content\" readability=\"30.188340807175\">\n<ul class=\"single-article__eyebrow\">\n<li class=\"single-article__category\"> <a class=\"single-article__category-link\" href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/news\/threats\/cybercrime\/\"> <span>Cybercrime<\/span> <\/a> <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> The pair stand accused of administering WWH Club, a major Russian-language cybercrime marketplace. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"single-article__cover-wrap\">\n<figure class=\"single-article__cover\"> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/russian-kazakhstani-men-living-in-miami-indicted-over-cybercrime-training-service.jpg?resize=640%2C426&ssl=1\" class=\"single-article__cover-image wp-post-image\" alt=\"A seal reading "Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation" is displayed on the J. Edgar Hoover FBI building in Washington, DC, on August 9, 2022.\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/russian-kazakhstani-men-living-in-miami-indicted-over-cybercrime-training-service-2.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/russian-kazakhstani-men-living-in-miami-indicted-over-cybercrime-training-service-2.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/russian-kazakhstani-men-living-in-miami-indicted-over-cybercrime-training-service-2.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/russian-kazakhstani-men-living-in-miami-indicted-over-cybercrime-training-service-2.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/russian-kazakhstani-men-living-in-miami-indicted-over-cybercrime-training-service-2.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/russian-kazakhstani-men-living-in-miami-indicted-over-cybercrime-training-service-2.jpg?resize=600,400 600w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/russian-kazakhstani-men-living-in-miami-indicted-over-cybercrime-training-service-2.jpg?resize=252,168 252w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/russian-kazakhstani-men-living-in-miami-indicted-over-cybercrime-training-service-2.jpg?resize=506,337 506w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/russian-kazakhstani-men-living-in-miami-indicted-over-cybercrime-training-service-2.jpg?resize=1013,675 1013w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/russian-kazakhstani-men-living-in-miami-indicted-over-cybercrime-training-service-2.jpg?resize=1265,843 1265w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1013px) 100vw, 1013px\"><figcaption> (Photo by STEFANI REYNOLDS\/AFP via Getty Images) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"single-article__content\">\n<div class=\"single-article__content-inner has-drop-cap\"> <html readability=\"45.976797479232\"><body readability=\"93.192885617909\"><\/p>\n<p>A pair of alleged cybercriminals who prosecutors say were key administrators of a cybercrime marketplace and training service were indicted Friday and each face up to 20 years in federal prison.<\/p>\n<p>Alex Khodyrev, 35, and Pavel Kublitskii, 37, were charged Aug. 10 for their role in administering WWH Club, a Russian-language cybercrime forum that an <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.flsd.672601\/gov.uscourts.flsd.672601.1.0.pdf\">FBI agent likened<\/a> to \u201ca cross between Ebay and Reddit \u2026 that exists for the sole purpose of of promoting and facilitating crime.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Khodyrev, a citizen of Kazakhstan, and Kublitskii, a Russian national, were arrested while living in Miami. The two were in the U.S. for the past two years after applying for asylum in the U.S. in December 2022, according to the FBI affidavit.<\/p>\n<p>Despite showing no outward signs of being employed legitimately, Kublitskii rented a \u201cluxury condominium\u201d in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., according to the affidavit, while in March 2023 Khodyrev purchased a 2023 Corvette at a South Florida dealership with approximately $110,000 in cash.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>WWH Club first came online roughly a decade ago, in 2014, and has since become \u201ca major force in the Russian-speaking cybercriminal underground,\u201d Alexander Leslie, threat intelligence analyst with Recorded Future, told CyberScoop. While the site does serve an influential role in its community, networking and advertising capacities, \u201cthe overwhelming presence of scammers and younger, more inexperienced cybercriminals on WWH Club still make it a lower threat priority than some of its contemporaries, such as XSS or Exploit,\u201d Leslie said.<\/p>\n<p>The FBI obtained a copy of the site\u2019s main server in July 2020 after serving a search warrant on hosting provider DigitalOcean, according to the affidavit. At the time, the site appeared to have roughly 170,000 registered users. That number had grown to more than 350,000 as of Sept. 9, 2024, but the number is slightly misleading in that the site allows unregistered visitors to create anonymous and temporary accounts, which could artificially inflate the size of the user base, Leslie said.<\/p>\n<p>In January 2023, an FBI agent paid roughly $1,000 in bitcoin to attend one of the site\u2019s training sessions on how to obtain and use stolen credit card data and personal information to make money, according to the affidavit. The same agent in February 2023 purchased data on 20 people in the U.S. for $110 in bitcoin that likely came from a February 2022 breach of LendingTree, according to the affidavit.<\/p>\n<p>The site continues to operate as normal, with activities \u201cactually slightly [increasing]\u201d over the past month, Leslie said. Between Aug. 9 and Sept. 9, Recorded Future observed approximately 60,000 new and unique references to activities on WWH Club, Leslie said. <\/p>\n<p>Accounts associated with Khodyrev and Kublitskii have been deleted in an attempt to distance the forum from its former administrators, Leslie added, \u201ca common practice when law enforcement actions targets a forum, which relies on business continuity and community trust.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cAs of this moment, barring a few holdouts, the community as a whole remains relatively undeterred,\u201d Leslie said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/tag\/arkady-bukh\/\">Arkady Bukh<\/a>, the attorney representing Khodyrev, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p><\/body> <\/p>\n<footer class=\"single-article__footer\" readability=\"1.1855895196507\">\n<div class=\"author-card\" readability=\"8\">\n<div class=\"author-card__avatar\">\n<figure class=\"author-card__image-wrap\"> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"author-card__image\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/russian-kazakhstani-men-living-in-miami-indicted-over-cybercrime-training-service-1.jpg?w=640&ssl=1\" alt=\"AJ Vicens\"> <\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><h4 class=\"author-card__name\">Written by AJ Vicens<\/h4>\n<p> AJ covers nation-state threats and cybercrime. He was previously a reporter at Mother Jones. 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{"id":5193,"date":"2024-09-09T11:25:57","date_gmt":"2024-09-09T16:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/?p=81686"},"modified":"2024-09-09T11:25:57","modified_gmt":"2024-09-09T16:25:57","slug":"russian-kazakhstani-men-living-in-miami-indicted-over-cybercrime-training-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/2024\/09\/09\/russian-kazakhstani-men-living-in-miami-indicted-over-cybercrime-training-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian, Kazakhstani men living in Miami indicted over cybercrime training service"},"content":{"rendered":"