Defendant, Using the Name ‘TeRorPP,’ Sold 300,000 Log-In Credentials
February 17, 2024 – WASHINGTON – Georgy Kavzharadze, 27, pleaded guilty on Friday to being a prolific vendor of stolen financial information, login credentials, and other personally identifying information (PII) on a criminal internet marketplace called Slilpp, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and FBI Special Agent in Charge David J. Scott of the FBI Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division.
Kavzharadze pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who scheduled sentencing for July 19, 2024.
Kavzharadze is also known as “George” and “Georgii” and went by online monikers of “TeRorPP,” “Torqovec,” and “PlutuSS.” In Cyrillic his name is ГЕОРГИЙ КАХОВИЧ КАВЖАРАДЗЕ.
According to court documents, between July 2016 and May 2021, Kavzharadze, using the name “TeRorPP,” listed for sale over 626,100 stolen login credentials on Slilpp and sold more than 297,300 of them on the illegal marketplace. Those credentials were subsequently linked to $1.2 million in fraudulent transactions, or attempted transactions. On May 27, 2021, Kavzharadze’s account on Slilpp listed 240,495 login credentials for sale that would allow the buyer to use the information to steal money from the victim’s online payment and bank accounts. The credentials included access to bank accounts in New York, California, Nevada, and Georgia. Kavzharadze only accepted Bitcoin as payment for the credentials. An FBI analysis connected Kavzharadze to withdrawals of more $200,000 in Slilpp profits from his Bitcoin account.
In June 2021, the FBI, in a coordinated action with international law enforcement partners, disrupted Slilpp by seizing its infrastructure and domain names. The Slilpp database contained a wealth of historical information about Slilpp vendors, customers and transactions, including subscriber and payment information for individual accounts that have been used to buy and sell login credentials over Slilpp. The database accurately reflected known Slilpp transactions and subscriber records, including FBI undercover purchases.
On August 19, 2021, Kavzharadze was charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud, bank fraud, access device fraud, and aggravated identity theft. He was subsequently extradited to the United States. He had an initial appearance in the U.S. District Court on May 18, 2022.
This case was investigated by the FBI.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Macey and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph “Tony” Misher. Valuable assistance was provided by Paralegal Specialist Lisa Abbe, former Assistant U.S. Attorney Demian S. Ahn, and former Paralegal Specialist Michon Tart.
Source: DOJ Release