Seraolo Nicholas (Nicholas Ceraolo)

Biography

2023: Doxxing charge

On March 14, 2023, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed charges against two alleged members of the ViLE cybercriminal group. Men are suspected of doxing - searching and publishing on the Internet personal and (or) confidential information about victims.

The case involves 19-year-old Sagar Steven Singh and 25-year-old Nicholas Ceraolo. According to investigators, they hacked into a database of federal law enforcement agencies and posed as police officers in order to collect information about potential victims and subsequent extortion. The attackers, in particular, searched for information about specific persons, and then threatened to post this information on public websites if the victims refused to comply with the ransom requirements.

Hackers presented themselves as police officers in order to collect information about the victims and subsequent extortion

Singh and Seraolo illegally used a stolen police officer's password to access a closed database maintained by a federal law enforcement agency, which (among other things) contains detailed non-public records of drug and currency seizures, as well as various reports, the DOJ said.

In addition, the attackers illegally gained access to an official email account belonging to a Bangladesh police officer. The goal was to use this account to request data from various companies: for example, fraudsters tried to request information about subscribers from various online service providers. This information was then used to blackmail and extort money.

If convicted, Seraolo faces up to 20 years in prison on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Separately, Seraolo and Singh can receive up to five years in prison for conspiracy to commit computer intrusions.^[1]

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