Cybercriminal Andrei Tarasov Escapes US Extradition, Returns to Russia

Andrei Vladimirovich Tarasov, a 33-year-old Russian cybercrime determine recognized on-line as “Aels,” has returned to Russia after evading US extradition.

Launched from Berlin’s Moabit Jail on January 5, 2024, Tarasov had been held for about six months following his July 2023 arrest on pc crime fees.

The Berlin Superior Courtroom of Justice decided that US fees weren’t concrete sufficient, paving the best way for his launch.

Regardless of nonetheless being on the US Secret Service Most Needed checklist, Tarasov is now safely in Russia, which doesn’t extradite its residents.

Tarasov was indicted by a US grand jury in New Jersey in June 2023, together with co-defendants Maksim Silnikau and Volodymyr Kadariya.

They confronted fees of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, pc fraud and abuse, and two counts of wire fraud.

In keeping with the indictment, the trio ran an in depth cybercrime operation from 2013 to 2022 utilizing “malvertisements” – faux ads that directed thousands and thousands of computer systems to the Angler exploit package.

The Angler exploit package was a robust hacking instrument that rapidly probed sufferer computer systems for vulnerabilities in software program like Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight, then silently delivered malware.

At its peak, the package represented 40% of all exploit package assaults with an estimated annual turnover of $34 million.

Tarasov allegedly developed specialised visitors distribution techniques that confirmed malvertisements solely to particular kinds of computer systems, making campaigns tough to trace and block.

To this present day, Tarasov is on the U.S. Secret Service Most Needed checklist. His Instagram profile shows the hyperlink to the Secret Service web page, a type of notorious badge of honor.

Remarkably, his exercise on cybercrime boards seems to proceed. On this put up, we’ll study Tarasov and his exercise beneath varied nicknames, together with Aels and Lavander.

FBI Cooperation and Ukraine Battle

In keeping with discussion board posts and letters allegedly written by Tarasov, he claimed FBI brokers approached him to assist seize different cybercriminals, together with a risk actor who had a $10 million US bounty.

Tarasov reportedly recognized a hacker referred to as “stern” because of private grievances associated to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“I doxed stern as a result of I couldn’t forgive him for the conflict that took away my dwelling for the second time and took the lives of six of my pals,” Tarasov reportedly wrote.

Lengthy earlier than the indictment was alleged towards him, Tarasov’s personas had been lively on cybercriminal boards. One among his fundamental on-line handles is Aels.

An evaluation of Aels’ on-line posts from 2012 to 2015 revealed the actor was a notable determine within the exploit package group.

He later expressed remorse for cooperating with US authorities. Notably, Tarasov had expressed anti-Russia sentiments for years on cybercrime boards, which typically put him at odds with Russian-speaking risk actors.

Escape to Russia and Present Actions

After his surprising launch from German custody, Tarasov made a calculated escape to Russia.

In keeping with his personal account on the XSS cybercrime discussion board beneath the deal with “Lavander,” he used the BlaBlaCar ride-sharing service to succeed in Poland with out exhibiting identification paperwork required for different transport modes.

He then crossed into Russia’s Kaliningrad territory by car earlier than finally flying to Moscow.

Tarasov stays lively in cybercrime circles right this moment. His GitHub options a number of lately up to date initiatives associated to mass emailing and spam, together with “MadCat Mailer.”

On Telegram, he participates in spamming channels beneath his “Lavander” persona. On Could 3, 2025, he wrote, “Must discover a option to hack Zimbra servers at scale.”

When requested about classes discovered, Tarasov responded, “My mistake was an try to make friendship with each side.

It will likely be a good suggestion to depart EU and disappear after first assembly [with law enforcement]”.

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