A British man accused of operating under the alias "IntelBroker" on a cybercrime forum has been charged with selling stolen data and causing over $25 million in losses.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced the charges against Kai West on Wednesday. West allegedly operated on the dark web under the alias IntelBroker, causing victims to suffer losses exceeding $25 million.
Jay Clayton, former chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and attorney, is one of the individuals responsible for unveiling the indictment. He stated, "This action reflects the FBI's commitment to pursuing global cybercriminals."
Reports indicate that West conspired with the cybercrime organization CyberN***ers to steal data from multiple companies, including a telecommunications company, a municipal healthcare provider, an internet service provider, and over 40 other companies.
According to the complaint, an undercover law enforcement officer contacted IntelBroker via private message to purchase data from a victim for $250 worth of Bitcoin (BTC). West provided an address that he allegedly owned, and after payment, the data was delivered, reportedly including three administrator-level usernames and passwords.
It is reported that West and his online collaborators sold illegally obtained data for over $2 million. He was arrested in France in February, and the U.S. is currently seeking to extradite him.
FBI Assistant Director Christopher Raia stated that West is a "serial hacker" who was able to "sell this data for millions of dollars in illegal funds." IntelBroker was very active on the now-defunct cybercrime forum BreachForums.
According to the announcement, a review of 158 posts allegedly initiated by West showed that he sold stolen data for Forum-1 points (the internal currency of BreachForums) as well as for free. He was reportedly active from around January 2023 to February 2025, with at least 41 posts involving the sale of data from U.S. companies.
Of the 158 posts, 16 explicitly stated the price for the data, totaling at least $2.467 million. Messages allegedly written by West also indicated that he accepted payment in privacy coin Monero (XMR).
IntelBroker gained notoriety on BreachForums to the extent that he was identified as the owner of the site starting in August 2024.
This news comes after the recent leak of over 16 billion login credentials from leading online service providers, which could potentially impact cryptocurrency holders. Earlier this month, it was reported that Coinbase was informed in January that an employee of an outsourcing company may have leaked customer data.
The breach was disclosed in mid-May when cybercriminals recruited overseas support agents to leak user data and attempted to extort $20 million from Coinbase. At that time, Coinbase stated, "These insiders abused their access to the customer support system to steal a small portion of customer account data."
Related: Citibank accused of ignoring warning signs of $20 million cryptocurrency "pig butchering" scam
Original article: “FBI Arrests Alleged Manager of BreachForums 'IntelBroker' in Sting Operation”
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