Convicted Australian cybercriminal David Kees Crees is being deported from the US. Photo: US Department of Homeland Security
US immigration officials have arrested a 26-year-old South Australian cybercriminal who pled guilty to multiple counts of cybercrime, and are in the process of deporting him back to Australia – just weeks after being freed and fined by a US Federal Court.
Adelaide man David Kee Crees, who is known online as ‘DR32’ and ‘Abdilo’, was ordered to be extradited in 2022 from Adelaide after a December 2021 indictment accused him of attacks on seven unnamed US software, social media, networking, cybersecurity and other firms.
He was accused of exploiting five different victims’ ID and credit card numbers in repeated cases of identity theft – all part of a crime spree that ran from July 2020 to July 2021, when Crees was caught by undercover Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents.
All told, the indictment included 22 charges including unauthorised access to computers, damage to “protected” computers, fraud, and money laundering – for which Crees was detained in Australia for nearly two years before finally being extradited to Colorado in February 2024.
Each of the unauthorised access charges provided for penalties of up to five years’ imprisonment and a $385,500 ($US250,000) fine, while the damage charges threatened up to 10 years’ imprisonment each and a fine of up to $771,000 ($US500,000).
DataBreaches.net reports that Crees changed his plea to guilty in January, ultimately finalising a plea deal that led to a May 15 judgement in which the court sentenced him to time served, forfeiture of $378,000 ($US245,056.92), a year of supervised release, and a $2,160 ($US1,400) fine.
A fortnight later, HSI agents arrested Crees again, with the agency’s Denver branch announcing that he would be “held in ICE custody pending his removal to Australia.”
A long history of hacking
It’s far from Crees’s first brush with the law: having also used monikers including ‘Notavirus’, ‘Surivaton,’ and ‘Grey Hat Mafia’s Bitch,’ 16-year-old Crees first came onto the authorities’ radar when he claimed responsibility for the hack of travel insurance firm Aussie Travel Cover (ATC).
That December 2014 attack – in which the company failed to notify its account holders that over 870,000 policy and banking records had been compromised – led a string of exploits that also included attacking Australian government sites and livestreaming attacks on US education sites.
Posting publicly about attacking the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), ZDNet cited ‘Abdilo’’s claim that his “whole plan was to mess with ansto’s [sic] nuclear reactor, but the closest I got was stealing all of their error logs & chemicals & scientist doxes”.
“I do not justify what I do,” the hacker – who has also made headlines with claims he implanted microchips in his hands – is reported to have told IntelCrawler security researchers that his actions were “irresponsible” and revealed that he had attacked ATC because he was bored.
He also reportedly targeted organisations including GIO Insurance and Invest Smart, warning potential victims that “If you are [vulnerable] 99 per cent of the time, I am going to steal everything and release it and/or sell it.”
On his way home
Observers like DataBreaches.net have openly questioned the terms of the agreement, which saw US authorities drop eight counts but didn’t clarify whether Crees assisted US authorities’ cybercriminal investigations, or whether he’ll face additional charges once he returns to Australia.
Late last year, Australian Federal Police (AFP) declared war on cybercriminals, saying that it is running over 100 cybercrime investigations including major multinational actions, some with the support of the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), “with a priority on ransomware threat groups.”
“International organised cybercrime groups continue to target Australia’s economy and way of life through sophisticated crimes using technology,” the AFP said.
AFP provided a ‘no comment’ when contacted by Information Age.
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