Suspected cyber thief arrested

Mar 21, 2012 (The Dominion Post - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- A former WVU student is among 19 people in nine states facing federal racketeering charges for his suspected involvement in a Las Vegas-based criminal organization that bought and sold personal and financial information online.

Edward Montecalvo, 20, was arrested in Morgantown late last week by U.S. Secret Service agents. Information about his arrest was not provided to The Dominion Post until late Monday, though inquiries about the arrest were made Friday.

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Nevada; Montecalvo was involved with a criminal organization called "Carder.su," whose members manufactured and sold stolen and counterfeit ID documents and credit and debit cards. They also allegedly committed identity theft and financial fraud crimes.

Members were encouraged to sell fraudulent ID documents, stolen credit card information and other data using the organization's websites, according to the release. They also are accused of using various means of communication to protect their identities and shield their activities from law enforcement and other criminal organizations.

Fifty people were charged in the investigation. Nineteen of those individuals were arrested last week.

"The victims in these cases are the financial institutions because they reimburse the cardholders," said Natalie Collins, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney for the District of Nevada.

Collins was unable to say where the affected financial institutions are located. She said they will be identified later.

Montecalvo is named in four counts of a 50-page indictment issued in January 2012 by a Nevada grand jury. The counts under which he is listed include participation in a racketeer-influenced corrupt organization, conspiracy to engage in a racketeer-influenced corrupt organization, trafficking in and production of false identification documents, and possession of 15 or more counterfeit and unauthorized access devices.

The indictment indicates that Montecalvo -- also known as N1ghtmare and Tenure44 -- was a vendor of "dumps," or stolen credit card account data. He also allegedly provided a dump checking service for members, checking with financial institutions to ensure the credit card accounts being sold were still valid and open at the time of a member's purchase.

According to the indictment, he was found to have 270 stolen credit and debit card account numbers in his possession on two occasions in early 2010.

Montecalvo was released to his father's custody Monday. He was placed on home confinement at his father's Charlottesville, Va., home and cannot possess or use a computer or any other device capable of accessing the Internet as a condition of his release.

U.S. Magistrate Judge John S. Kaull denied a federal motion to detain Montecalvo until his first court hearing in Las Vegas, noting that Montecalvo does not have a significant criminal history.

Monongalia County Magistrate Court records indicate that Montecalvo was most recently arrested in February for underage consumption and public intoxication by WVU police. He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor destruction of property charge in April 2010, for which he was sentenced to a suspended 30-day jail sentence and placed on two years of unsupervised probation.

He was also cited for underage consumption in October 2009.

Kaull's order denying the government's motion to detain Montecalvo indicates that his involvement in Carder.su dates back to 2009. He is no longer a WVU student due to "poor academic performance," though he continued living in Morgantown while taking online classes at an unspecified community college.

Collins said she was prohibited from providing Montecalvo's local address.

___ (c)2012 The Dominion Post (Morgantown, W.Va.) Visit The Dominion Post (Morgantown, W.Va.) at www.dominionpost.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

[ Back To Homepage ]

Real time alerts

The World's Largest Communications And Technology Community

Technology Marketing Corporation,
800 Connecticut Ave, 1st Floor East, Norwalk, CT 06854 USA
Ph: 800-243-6002, 203-852-6800; Fx: 203-866-3326
General comments: tmc@tmcnet.com. Comments about this site: webmaster@tmcnet.com.

» About » Contact » Advertise