Cyprus, after amending its constitution in 2013, extradited for the first time to the United States of America, a Cypriot hacker wanted for fraud and blackmail.
The United States Department of Justice had requested the extradition from the Republic of Cyprus of two criminals found on the territory of Cyprus. One is accused of being a hacker computers and is suspected of internet hacking and extortion and the other is accused of WRITTEN »THE WOODWORKING - THE OWNER with links to the terrorist organization Hezbollah.
Both suspects, Nicosia resident Joshua Polloso Epifaniou, 21, and Lebanese Gassan Diant, 37, were arrested in Cyprus in recent years and extradited to the United States last weekend.
According to the indictment, Epifaniou carried out a brute force attack against the web portal Ripoff Report (ROR) in October 2016 and replaced code of an existing ROR employee account, thereby gaining access to its database.
The Ripoff Report site allows users over the age of 14 to complain anonymously about any company or individual. The site requires the creation of an account before submitting the "reports", but does not verify the identity of the users. Her reports Ripoff Report may appear in her searches Google to the individuals (or companies) named in the complaints, which may be potentially embarrassing or harmful to them.
In November 2016, Epiphanius attempted to blackmail the company by sending an email to the CEO of ROR with a link to a video proving Epiphany's unauthorized access to the ROR CEO's account. She asked him for $ 90.000 within 48 hours not to share the stolen ROR data publicly.
From October 2016 to May 2017, Epifaniou also partnered with an SEO Company partner to illegally remove complaints posted on the ROR website on behalf of those interested and willing to pay around 3.000 to 5.000 dollars,
According to court documents, Epifaniou and his associate removed at least 100 complaints from the ROR database on behalf of their "clients".
Apart from ROR, Epifaniou has also been accused of violating and blackmailing various websites, between October 2014 and November 2016.
Epifaniou allegedly violated the websites and collected $ 56.850 in bitcoin, while the victims suffered losses of more than $ 530.000 for the restoration costs associated with the incidents.
Epifaniou is the first Cypriot citizen to be extradited from Cyprus to the United States. Cyprus amended its Constitution in 2013 to allow the extradition of Cypriot nationals to a European country or a third country on the basis of a European arrest warrant or on the basis of a bilateral or multilateral treaty. In 2003, the United States and European Union concluded an extradition agreement.
Also, a Lebanese citizen named Ghassan Diab, 37, was extradited from Cyprus to Florida on Friday, as he is wanted by the US Department of Justice as a member of Hezbollah, a Lebanese-based militant group for money laundering.
