Two men belonging to an online group called “ViLE” used a police officer’s stolen password to access a law enforcement intelligence database and take people’s personal information to try to extort them, according to federal prosecutors in New York.
The men collected people’s personal information from the database, including names, addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers and email addresses and posted it, or threatened to post it, on a website administered by another member of the group, according to a March 14 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Victims could pay to prevent their information from being published or pay to have it taken off the website, the release says. This is known as “doxxing,” according to the release.
In one instance, one of the men, Sagar Steven Singh, 19, accessed the police database and got a person’s “social security number, driver’s license number, home address, and other personal details,” the release says. He contacted the person and said that he would hurt the person’s family unless they gave him the credentials to their Instagram account, according to the release.
Singh told the victim that he had access to the personal information of everyone in the U.S., the release says. He also told the victim, “You’re gonna comply with me if you don’t want anything negative to happen to your parents,” according to the release. Singh then said that the victim should sell the credentials to their accounts and give the proceeds to Singh, according to prosecutors.
Between February 2022 and May 2022, the second man, Nicholas Ceraolo, 25, gained access to the email account of a Bangladeshi police officer, the release says. While posing as the officer, Ceraolo contacted a social media company and got the company to divulge information about one of its subscribers by saying that the subscriber had “participated in ‘child extortion’ and blackmail and had threatened officials of the Bangladeshi government,” the release says. The social media company provided Ceraolo with information including the subscriber’s address, email address and telephone number.
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Lawyers for the men could not be found.
In another instance between March 2022 and May 2022, Ceraolo contacted an online gaming company while posing as the Bangladeshi officer, the release says. The company realized that it was a fraud attempt and started to discuss it publicly. Ceraolo threatened to hack into the platform in retaliation and said he would “handle dumping and defacing everything for trying to snitch to homeland security,” the release says.
Ceraolo also used the Bangladeshi officer’s information to try to buy a license from a facial recognition company that doesn’t sell to the general public, the release says.
Both men worked with other members of “ViLE” to threaten, extort and dox members of the public, the release says. The group’s logo is a young girl’s body hanging from a rope and each member has an online username, according to prosecutors.
Singh was known online as “Weep,” and Ceraolo was known as “Convict,” “Anon” and “Ominous,” the release says. Authorities arrested Singh in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, on March 14. Ceraolo remained at large as of March 14, according to the release.
Both men could face five years in prison on charges of conspiracy to commit computer instructions, the release says. Ceraolo could also face up to 20 years in prison on a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to the release.
“Singh and Ceraolo aptly belonged to a group called, as their crime was, ‘Vile,’” Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement. “That conduct ends today. As alleged, the defendants shamed, intimidated and extorted others online.”
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