FBI Sting.

As we all know, xvisceral was arrested last night for:
Conspiracy to commit computer hacking (10 years in prison)
Distribution of malware (10 years in prison)
( http://www.fbi.gov/newyork/press-releases/2012/manhattan-u.s.-attorney-and-fbi-assistant-director-in-charge-announce-24-arrests-in-eight-countries-as-part-of-international-cyber-crime-takedown )

Well the belief at the moment is that he was found via an underground carding site owned by an HF member here by the name of m4v3r1ck. m4v3r1ck only has 17 posts. Now why in the hell would Omni let someone with so little qualifications be an Ub3r? But let's slow down here. m4v3r1ck is an FBI agent, right? So that means that Omni let him have Ub3r so that he could further explore HF and search for those who were committing serious crimes. I'm not saying that Omni is behind a conspiracy here but I do know that he helped to get xvisceral arrested and openly told members who were suspicious to join this FBI-monitored site. You can protect him all you want but when it comes right down to it, with the facts I have gathered today, Omni is enabling the FBI to spy on what we do on this site and openly telling members to go to a site that is even more strictly monitored. If you ever openly said that you infect other computers then you are theoretically a target by the FBI now.

Here is a picture of the chat that is most likely the reason why xvisceral was arrested:

http://i.imgur.com/YSYTs.png

This m4v3r1ck gentleman offered to buy HF but Omni denied it. In the process, he made an announcement telling the members of HF that if they want to do illegal activities such as stealing credit cards, that they have to join m4v3r1ck's underground site. Here is m4v3r1ck's thread about his "Blackhat forum":

http://www.hackforums.net/showthread.php?tid=522111

Take a look at Omni's announcement here where he openly told members who wanted to discuss illegal activities to go to the FBI-monitored site: http://www.hackforums.net/showthread.php?tid=474743

Omni tried to get members to join that site. If you were discussing illegal things then you were to be sent a PM asking you to move to m4v3r1ck's site so that you could be tracked like a dog by the FBI.

If you have found anything else, please post below. If you disagree then please post below with facts to back up your claims.

Add me on Skype if you want: haru.pirax

Inb4bannedandrepfucked

DEVELOPMENTS

m4v3r1ck's account has been closed: http://www.hackforums.net/member.php?act...&uid=29491

Omni has said that he will be making a public announcement soon: http://www.hackforums.net/showthread.php...id23908538

##############################################################################################
A user named Bay posted this story earlier:

They came to my house. I'm freaking out right now. I opened the door and an agent said "Hi, I'm agent **** and I'm with the FBI. He showed me his badge. They asked me if I was ** ** and I said yes. They said that they need to talk to me about my online activity. They had to leave because no one was home besides me. They said I need to have a parent present. They tried calling my mom at work but couldn't get a hold of her. One of the two agents that showed up gave me his card and his number and said to call them when I get a hold of my mom.

I'm so scared right now.

I don't see why they showed up. I haven't done anything. I swear to God. This is not a troll.

Picture taken from my Skype Webcam of the Card:
http://i.imgur.com/ITjl4.png


I just talked with them for an hour. It was about carderprofit.cc since I was a member on there for a short period of time. I'm glad I didn't stay on that site. My advice to everyone: DON'T DO BLACKHAT SHIT!

##############################################################################################
Omniscient, owner of HackForums.net, replies to his criticism:

Seems some shit hit the fan today and a popular carding forum was actually an FBI undercover website. As such a couple prominent members here who were active there have been arrested.

I was notified this morning by members. I had no idea of this shit storm before today.

The owner of the UC FBI site is a member here. At some point the member wanted to buy HF but wanted to turn it into a carding forum. I didn't want to be involved in such an illegal activity that might actually bring me problems. We settled on a compromise that I would promote his new site in exchange for advertising money which was already a deposit made to buy HF. We had met here in Vegas and he stated he was from Ukraine...had the accent too. I never got the impression he was anyone but who he said he was. I assisted with the setup of CPF by installing some plugins and building their theme. After a few months I told the owner I didn't want to be involved anymore and that I filled my obligation.

So HF was never sold and I'm still the owner to this day. I really honestly can't say if he was FBI himself, turned at some point, or maybe the site was seized. I just don't know beyond what I read in the FBI report today.

My gut aches at this news. It's very unfortunate that I somehow got involved. That being said HF is not a BH site and I don't pity people who take chances the way those who were arrested have. I've never wanted that type of activity here and now you know why. It's very dangerous. HF is an open forum where posts are not hidden and anyone can join. You're a real dumb ass to admit to anything here.

I've closed the account of the owner of the UC FBI site. All his IP connections seem to be socks. He was never a very active member here but did ask me MyBB questions every now and then. He was an ub3r as a courtesy. I did meet the guy and he did pay me good money in cash. One thing makes sense to me now though. When he was going to buy HF he said he was going to delete the site and start over with a BH Carding site. I told him that was a terrible idea but he gave the excuse he wanted a more exclusive site. Eventually his idea to start a new site with my help was formed. Makes me wonder if there wasn't some legal reason like entrapment to delete the existing site.

I'm a bit overwhelmed by this. I'm not sure what to believe. It's been over 18 months since I last even had a PM with the guy. The person I met didn't feel suspicious to me. I feel like I'm in some story or movie right now. All so odd. I can only imagine how crazy things would be if I really did sell HF back then to this guy.

You can btw read the original thread about the sale and promotion of his site here:
http://www.hackforums.net/showthread.php?tid=474743

Some are questioning if they should remain members of HF. And I think if you're doing something here that you're concerned about then maybe you should leave. Because as always I'm not here to protect you. I don't encourage using computers for illegal activity and if that's what you're doing then that's your problem. My legal disclaimer is simple. I will not share your private member data without a valid US Court subpoena.

http://www.hackforums.net/misc.php?action=help&hid=12
"We do not share this information with outside parties except to the extent necessary when the law requires us to comply."

I take sharing of private member data very very seriously. Anyone in staff can confirm this and anyone who's ever tried to get me to give up an IP or email knows that too.

I will not host HF offshore either. It wouldn't make any difference anyways because I'm a U.S. citizen subject to US laws. You joined a U.S. hosted site.

Please note that it doesn't seem like any HF members who were not members of CPF were arrested. It does seem specific that members of that site are the ones at risk. If HF was an FBI operation or under investigation I think we'd be closed down today. HF is not imho at risk of being shut down. I take great pains to make sure we operate within legal limits. I personally do not participate in any computer crime whatsoever. I'm the admin here and give customer support for upgrades and stickies.

Another thing...I haven't mentioned or advertised CPF for years now. Over the years people have been arrested that are indeed members of HF. I don't find that shocking considering that the arrest rate is about 5% of americans are arrested at some point. We've seen members post about DUI, robberies, and of course cyber crime charges. Seems only about 2-3 actual HF members are involved in this report. Out of 300k members and after 5+ years only a few arrested and those were actually from ANOTHER forum does not add up to me being directly involved. It just doesn't. Believe what you want but I had zero knowledge about these arrests.

I've stated numerous times that I was sure and still sure that we have law enforcement as members here. I wouldn't doubt they have accounts on just about every hacking, cracking, warez, or carding forum that exists.

I've deactivated the Blackshades private forum for now. Unsure what I'll do about the group. It's likely the owner of the group won't be around for a while...if ever. Considering the report I just read about the owners arrest I think it's best to remove the forum section.

Ugh...what a mess this is. I completely understand member concerns though. Unsure if my statement has helped any but it's everything I know at this time. Fuck this sucks. But I think just like the gazillion other dramas of HF this will pass in a week and we'll all be doing what we normally do. Other than the drama this has created 0 change in my day.

Well on the bright side those who DDOS HF might think twice now.

I'll leave this thread open and try to answer questions but I won't tolerate being disrespected. You're warned.

############################################################################################
I still believe Omni was behind this. Users do not have the ability to close their own accounts. Which means Omni did it after he found people knew about it.