SEATTLE (AP) — The U.S. Secret Service has arrested a Russian man who is accused of hacking store computers to steal thousands of credit card numbers.
The agency didn’t say where the 30-year-old Moscow man, Roman Valerevich Seleznev, was arrested Saturday, but he was transported to Guam for an initial court appearance and detained for a July 22 hearing.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Seattle says an indictment unsealed Monday charges him with bank fraud, obtaining information from a protected computer, possessing stolen credit cards and identity theft.
Investigators say he installed malicious software to steal credit numbers, using computer servers all over the world.
U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan in Seattle says the arrest shows cybercrooks can’t hide behind distant keyboards.
Seleznev also is charged in a similar but separate indictment in Nevada.
The Russian Foreign Ministry in a statement on Tuesday described Seleznev’s arrest as “yet another unfriendly gesture” of the United States.
“Neither are we notified of charges against our compatriots, nor were Russian consulate offices informed of Seleznev’s arrest,” the statement said.
The ministry said it was waiting for the United States to explain the incident and allow Russian consulate staff to visit Seleznev.
Moscow also blamed Maldives officials for ignoring “international legal norms” and allowing “intelligence services of another state to kidnap a Russian citizen and take him out of the country.”
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