A 33-year-old Kosovo citizen, Liridon Masurica, has been extradited to the U.S. to face charges related to his alleged role in operating an illegal online marketplace, according to astatement from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Masurica, also known as ‘blackdb,’ is accused of committing fraud using stolen account information. He was arrested by authorities in Kosovo last December, made his initial appearance in a Tampa federal court on Monday. The U.S. court ordered that Masurica be held in custody until his trial.
During Masurica’s arrest, law enforcement in Kosovo conducted searches in the cities of Pristina and Gjilan, arresting three suspects. Police also seized cryptocurrencies, computers, laptops, computer cases, mobile phones and storage devices from their apartments.
According to federal prosecutors, Masurica led the operation of BlackDB.cc, an online criminal marketplace active since 2018. The site allegedly sold compromised account credentials, credit card details and personal information, mostly of U.S. citizens, allowing a range of criminal activities including tax fraud, credit card fraud and identity theft.
If convicted on all counts, Masurica could face up to 55 years in federal prison.
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Daryna Antoniuk
is a reporter for Recorded Future News based in Ukraine. She writes about cybersecurity startups, cyberattacks in Eastern Europe and the state of the cyberwar between Ukraine and Russia. She previously was a tech reporter for Forbes Ukraine. Her work has also been published at Sifted, The Kyiv Independent and The Kyiv Post.
