The US authorities together with partners in Germany, Austria, and France have taken down Try2Check, a popular platform used by cybercriminals to verify the validity of stolen credit cards.
The US Department of Justice has unsealed charges against the 43-year-old Russian national Denis Kulkov, the alleged creator and owner of Try2Check, who currently resides in Russia.
Active since 2005, Try2Check run tens of millions of credit card checks per year and supported the operations of major card shops that made hundreds of millions in bitcoin in profits. Over a nine-month period in 2018, the site performed at least 16 million checks, and over a 13-month period beginning in September 2021, the site performed at least 17 million checks, the DoJ says.
Kulkov is said to have earned at least $18 million in bitcoin through Try2Check operations, which he used to purchase a Ferrari, among other luxury items.
The US State Department has announced a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Kulkov. In addition, the authorities offer a reward of up to $1 million for information that will allow to identify other key leaders of the Try2Check platform.
