Genesis Market Takedown Snares Buffalo Officer in Global Cybercrime Sweep

A federal grand jury has indicted Buffalo (New York) police detective Terrence Michael Chiszek on cybercrime charges. The 34-year-old law enforcement officer faces up to 10 years in prison for illegal possession of credit card data and providing false testimony to federal investigators. The maximum fine for the unlawful use of such data is $250,000.

According to the investigation, over a four-month period in 2020, Chiszek, under the alias “DrMonster,” purchased 11 data bundles containing 194 stolen accounts on the Genesis Market platform.

Launched in late 2017, Genesis Market specialized in selling login-password combinations as well as user device configuration data, including browser cookies and system information. According to researchers at ReliaQuest, the platform operators claimed that the stolen data allowed fraud protection systems at 283 major banks and payment systems to be bypassed. The platform provided hackers with the means to circumvent security, including multi-factor authentication, via a specialized browser plugin.

Investigators traced a connection between Chiszek and a Bitcoin wallet on the CashApp platform, which was used to purchase stolen data from the dark web site UniCC. On March 16, 2020, access to the CashApp account, registered under the detective’s driver’s license, was made from the same IP address used to access the “DrMonster” account on Genesis Market. Three days later, funds from the CashApp account appeared in the DrMonster account on Genesis.

During the investigation, a video was discovered in which the detective explains methods for anonymizing purchases of stolen credit cards and using UniCC. When interrogated in April 2023, Chiszek denied involvement in buying the stolen data, attempting to shift the blame onto his nephew.

Following the first court hearing on May 2, 2023, the Buffalo Police Department suspended the detective with pay. The court mandated that the suspect participate in a computer activity monitoring program under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Service.

Genesis Market was the largest platform of its kind, offering access to data from over 1.5 million compromised computers and more than 80 million accounts. In April 2023, as part of the international “Cookie Monster” operation involving law enforcement from 17 countries, the platform was shut down, and over 170 suspected users were arrested.