U.S. arrests accused Russian hacker
Decade-long hunt ends in the Maldives
WASHINGTON — For more than a decade, the U.S. Secret Service hunted Roman Seleznev, a computer wizard suspected of being one of the world’s most prolific traffickers in stolen credit cards.
But agents had a problem: Despite three separate federal hacking-related indictments against the 30-yearold son of a prominent Russian lawmaker, Seleznev remained out of reach, in Vladivostok, Russia.
Then he made a mistake last July and visited a luxurious resort in the Indian Ocean for a family vacation. U.S. authorities pounced, enlisting local police in a fastpaced operation that was nearly foiled by bad weather thousands of kilometres away. Seleznev is now in jail in Seattle, awaiting trial in November.
More than three dozen overseas hackers remain outside the reach of the law, including Russians accused of siphoning millions from U.S. consumers and Chinese military officials charged with industrial espionage, two law enforcement officials said.
Until now, U.S. officials have shared few details about Seleznev’s arrest, which sparked a furious response by the Russian government and caused heartburn for authorities in the Maldives, where he was caught. Seleznev’s father said his son would die in captivity without daily medication for a brain injury suffered three years earlier; echoing complaints issued after other arrests, the Russian government accused the U.S. of kidnapping.
For years, the Secret Service had been investigating Seleznev’s Internet activities, leading federal prosecutors to charge him with crimes including identity theft and racketeering, according to court filings, transcripts of court proceedings and extensive interviews with U.S. law enforcement officials. He is accused of hacking into retailers’ credit-card systems, installing malware to siphon off card numbers and running sophisticated forums where hackers could buy and sell the stolen information.
His allegedly illicit work was lucrative and financed fancy cars, apartments and exotic vacations, including in Bali, Indonesia, where he owned two luxury apartments costing nearly $800,000. Agents met in 2012 with Indonesian authorities, who declined to help capture a foreign national on their soil for fear of upsetting Russia, or their own citizens, according to two U.S. law enforcement officials.
On July 2 last year, the Secret Service got a new tip: Seleznev was visiting a fivestar resort in the Maldives, a popular holiday destination for Europeans. They were told that Seleznev picked the Maldives because it did not have an extradition treaty with the U.S.
Agents in Washington wasted no time, contacting officials at the State Department, who had a close relationship with the Maldivian police superintendent. He agreed to help, despite the lack of a treaty.
A day later, a Secret Service agent based in Thailand and another from Hawaii were in the Maldives, drawing up a plan: Local police would arrest Seleznev before he boarded his flight home on the morning of July 5. They would formally expel him from their country and hand him over to the U.S. agents, who would hustle him aboard a private jet bound for the U.S. territory of Guam.
At the last minute the Maldivian police said they required an Interpol “red notice” to grab Seleznev. The Secret Service had avoided uploading such an alert that they were seeking a suspect on criminal charges because Russian authorities were notorious for tipping their citizens to the existence of arrest warrants.
Anticipating the demand, Secret Service agents had drafted a red notice and uploaded it to Interpol as Seleznev was on a seaplane from his resort to the Maldives airport, leaving the Russians no time to act.
As Seleznev rode a bus from the seaplane to the airport, Maldivian police and a Secret Service agent sat just a few rows back, making sure he didn’t get a tip and try to slip away.
At the airport, police checked Seleznev’s passport and quickly turned him over to the Secret Service agents, who handcuffed the Russian and led him onto the jet.
As they were about to take off, however, another problem arose. A storm was reported near Guam.
Agents in the Maldives made the call: Take off and pray for better weather. Twelve hours later, the flight landed in Guam without incident, and Seleznev was transferred to Seattle.