A man from Peekskill, New York, who they claim operated the infamous dark web data breach forum “BreachForums” under the handle “Pompompurin,” has been detained by federal officials.
A group of detectives detained Conor Brian Fitzpatrick at his residence at around 4:30 in the afternoon. Wednesday, according to a sworn declaration submitted the following day in court by an FBI agent. One count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud is brought against Fitzpatrick.
About 1,000 businesses and websites had their records stolen, and BreachForums housed them. The databases frequently contain personal data including names, emails, and passwords. Users of the website can sell the information, which can be used for fraud. On BreachForums, Pompompurin’s profile refers to him as “Bossman” and features a photo of the Sanrio Co. cartoon dog he used as an online alias.
According to his profile, Fitzpatrick last visited the website on Wednesday at 3:53 PM, just before he was taken into custody. Fitzpatrick reportedly acknowledged using the alias “Pompompurin” and being the owner and operator of BreachForums, according to the FBI agent who led the other agents in the arrest.
After being freed on bond, Fitzpatrick didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. On his court appearance, he was represented by Benjamin Gold, who declined to comment.
Fitzpatrick was listed as one of the Peekskill High School class of 2021 graduates in a local newspaper. According to the documents of the court, he was born in 2002. A local news outlet published video of FBI and Homeland Security agents invading a Peekskill home on Wednesday and removing bags of potential evidence from the residence. The agents were collaborating with local police. Fitzpatrick was not specifically mentioned in the article, but the address is the same as the one he shared with his parents according to online records.
According to numerous people familiar with the issue who declined to be named because the material isn’t public, Fitzpatrick had been under careful observation by cybersecurity investigators for more than a year and was thought to be a prominent player in the cybercrime ecosystem.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation sized RaidForums, the conceptual forerunner of BreachForums, in April 2022.
According to Allan Liska, a senior intelligence analyst at the cybersecurity company Recorded Future, “Breach Forums is one of, if not the most active, hacker forums out there. They are well recognized for disclosing private data obtained from significant businesses around the world, including the online trading platform Robinhood and Acer Computers.
Once RaidForums closed, BreachForums was established, “exactly with the purpose of carrying on the job started at Raid,” Liska noted. Pompompurin, who controlled the forum, openly supported its hacking and leak efforts.
In November 2021, Pompompurin took ownership of sending phony emails with a “fbi.gov” email account as their source. In an interview with Brian Krebs, Pompompurin admitted responsibility for the breach.
The allegations, which were brought in front of a federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia, were not made public. The US Attorney in Alexandria’s spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment via phone or email.
Fitzpatrick was brought before a federal judge in White Plains, New York, and freed on a parent-signed $300,000 unsecured bond. Fitzpatrick must avoid interacting with any co-defendant, accomplice, or witness in the case. On March 24, he is scheduled to appear in court in Alexandria.