29-year-old Russian citizen Kirill Firsov on Friday pleaded guilty to cybercrimes in the US, the court documents say.
According to the plea agreement, Firsov was "well-compensated as the administrator of DEER.IO, an online platform which catered to cybercriminals".
As the prosecution stated, DEER.IO was a Russian-based platform "that allowed criminals to set up cyber storefronts and sell illegal products or services".
"DEER.IO started operations as of at least October 2013, and, as of March 2020, had approximately 3,000 shops with sales exceeding $17 million", the release explains.
In the plea agreement, Firsov said that most of his victims were Russians, but the site received about $1.2 million in revenue from the sale of information about Americans.
This fact allowed the FBI to prosecute Firsov in a US court and detain him upon his arrival to the country. In particular, Firsov sold social security numbers, dates of birth and addresses of Americans - this information is often enough to fraudulently obtain a credit card or credit in a victim's name.
Firsov is due to be sentenced before a judge on April 12. Under US law, Firsov may be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison, or a $250,000 fine.
"This was one-stop shopping for criminals," US Attorney Robert Brewer said, while commending the work of the prosecutors. "Cybercrime is one of the most pervasive threats facing our country. Data is being stolen and sold on the Dark Web every day, and we are devoting significant resources to combatting this serious problem."
Kirill Firsov was arrested on March 7 after he flew to New York. Three days earlier, the FBI carried out a "test purchase" on the site, acquiring information on 1,100 gamers for $20 in bitcoins.
