Credit card numbers' broker gets indicted
SAN FRANCISCO -- The head of a major website that trafficked in stolen credit card numbers has been arrested and indicted after a 16-month investigation.
Max Ray Butler ran CardersMarket, an online forum for people who steal, share or use others' credit card information illegally, according to the indictment.
Butler, 35, was arrested in his hometown of San Francisco on Sept. 5. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on three counts of wire fraud and two counts of transferring stolen identity information because he allegedly sold more than 100 credit card numbers and related information to a Pennsylvania resident who is cooperating with the investigation, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
Using the names "Iceman," "Aphex," "Digits" and "Darkest," Butler used a high-powered antenna to intercept wireless communications to hack into financial institutions, the indictment says.
CardersMarket was one of a dozen thriving carding forums where stolen credit and debit card information was trafficked. The forums also broker programs to steal data and services to carry out online frauds.
CardersMarket was the subject of an October 2006 story in USA TODAY. That story was cited twice in the indictment of Butler.
He faces up to 40 years in prison and a $1.5 million fine if convicted of all charges.
The indictment also claims a business associate of Butler's, Christopher Aragon, used some of the stolen credit card numbers to make transactions and shared proceeds with Butler. Aragon, who was arrested in May, told Secret Service agents that Butler provided him "tens of thousands" of stolen credit card numbers.
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