Intellectual Property Law

Who knew America's highways were a hotbed of cybercrime?

In this week's Fed Blotter, Nicholas Lakes and Viachelav Berkovich are charged with computer fraud for a man-in-the-middle attack that allegedly let them run a profitable trucking company without the hassle of driving a truck.

For over three years the Russian immigrants repeatedly hacked a Department of Transportation website called Safersys.org, which maintains a list of licensed interstate trucking companies and brokers, according to an affidavit (.pdf) filed by a department investigator. There, the pair would temporarily change the contact information for a legitimate trucking company to an address and phone number under their control.

The men then took to the web-based "load boards" where brokers advertise cargo in need of transportation. They'd negotiate a deal, for example, to transport cargo from American Canyon, California, to Jessup, Maryland, for $3,500.

But instead of transporting the load, Lakes and Berkovich would outsource the job to another trucking company, the feds say, posing as the legitimate company whose identity they'd hijacked. Once the cargo was delivered, the men allegedly invoiced their customer and pocketed the funds. But when the company that actually drove the truck tried to get paid, they'd eventually discover that the firm who'd supposedly hired them didn't know anything about it.

The men allegedly pulled in nearly $500,000 in the scheme before Smokey caught up with them. They're charged (.pdf) with computer, mail and wire fraud in a federal indictment in Los Angeles. 

The growing cost of driving is also at the center of a federal indictment (.pdf) filed Tuesday in West Palm Beach, Florida, charging Javier Garcia-Olivera, Osmany Garcia-Olivera and Javier Alejando Alonozo-Gomez with using a magstripe programmer and stolen credit card numbers to steal over $500,000 worth of gasoline.

The three Cuban nationals allegedly rigged a pair of open-bed trucks with 200-gallon, agricultural-style fuel tanks partially hidden under utility boxes in the trucks. Then they filled up the tanks at Florida gas stations, using gift cards reprogrammed with stolen credit card data.

Secret Service agents working with a Murphy Oil security officer tailed some of the trucks to  "remote areas," according to an affidavit (.pdf) by ICE agent Douglas Johnson, and watched the gas being resold, presumably at cut-rate prices. "The fuel was being placed into taxi cabs, vessels and other privately owned vehicles."

The source of credit card numbers isn't identified in the court documents, but a card-skimming device was found in the Garcia-Oliveras' home in a raid this month, along with 96 blank Visa gift cards.

Fed Blotter is Threat Level's weekly roundup of computer crime cases in the federal courts. If you've been indicted, or are about to be, please let us know.

See Also:

• Fed Blotter: New Charges Filed Against Alleged Cyber Peeping Tom
• Fed Blotter: Citibank Worker Allegedly Plunders Customer Accounts