Forget the usual suspects. It’s always the ones with cute and innocent-sounding usernames that you have to watch out for. Lesson learned, Pompompurin.
But you know what they say, never judge a cybercriminal by their username.
“Pompompurin”, boss of “BreachForums”, was arrested by the FBI. This case has been all over the news lately and will probably turn into a full eCrimeBytes episode after it winds its way through the court system.
BreachForums was a well known meeting spot for the underground to sell and purchased hacked databases. It was reportedly a new version of RaidForums, which was disabled by the FBI in 2022.
Authorities were reportedly tipped off to Pompompurin’s identity by his excessive use of the phrase ‘such a good boy’ in his forum posts. It seems even cybercriminals can’t resist the allure of praising man’s best friend.
But here’s the kicker: Pompompurin didn’t even try to deny his involvement in the whole mess. He gave the FBI his real name, Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, and admitted to being the owner and administrator of BreachForums.
“When I arrested the defendant on March 15, 2023, he stated to me in substance and in part that: a) his name was Conor Brian Fitzpatrick; b) he used the alias ‘pompompurin’ and c) he was the owner and administrator of ‘BreachForums’ the data breach website referenced in the Complaint,” Longmire wrote.
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2023/03/feds-charge-ny-man-as-breachforums-boss-pompompurin/
What was also interesting was that Fitzpatrick had a long history of causing issues for the FBI. From SPAM blasting a fake email about a fake investigation from official FBI email addresses to housing partner data exfiltrated from the breached FBI InfraGard program, this wasn’t the first time Fitzpatrick and the FBI have crossed paths.
He’s like a cybercriminal’s version of a recurring villain.
“Wait if they arrested pom then doesn’t the FBI have all of our details we’ve registered with?” asked one worried BreachForums member.
“But we all have good VPNs I guess, right…right guys?” another denizen offered.
“Like pom would most likely do a plea bargain and cooperate with the feds as much as possible,” replied another.
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2023/03/feds-charge-ny-man-as-breachforums-boss-pompompurin/
Pompompurin’s BreachForums may be shut down, but I’m sure he’s already working on his next big cybercrime scheme. Maybe next time he’ll use a more intimidating name.
Remember: always watch out for those cute and innocent-sounding usernames. They might just be the ones causing all the trouble.
You can check out more details in the Krebs article linked below.
Further Reading:
- https://krebsonsecurity.com/2023/03/feds-charge-ny-man-as-breachforums-boss-pompompurin/
- https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67027377/united-states-v-fitzpatrick/
- https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67027008/united-states-v-fitzpatrick/
- https://www.databreaches.net/law-enforcement-seizes-domains-owned-by-pompompurin-and-one-currently-owned-by-databreaches/
Leave a Reply