Feds Bust CEO Allegedly Selling Custom BlackBerry Phones to Sinaloa Drug Cartel

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> Date: March 16, 2018 at 3:04:27 PM EDT
> To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Feds Bust CEO Allegedly Selling Custom BlackBerry Phones to Sinaloa Drug Cartel
> Reply-To: dewayne-net () warpspeed com
>
> Feds Bust CEO Allegedly Selling Custom BlackBerry Phones to Sinaloa Drug Cartel
> Phantom Secure is one of the most infamous companies in the secure phone industry. Sources and court documents detail 
> that its owner has been arrested for allegedly helping criminal organizations.
> By Joseph Cox
> Mar 10 2018
> <https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/a34b7b/phantom-secure-sinaloa-drug-cartel-encrypted-blackberry>
>
> For years, a slew of shadowy companies have sold so-called encrypted phones, custom BlackBerry or Android devices 
> that sometimes have the camera and microphone removed and only send secure messages through private networks. Several 
> of those firms allegedly cater primarily for criminal organizations. 
>
> Now, the FBI has arrested the owner of one of the most established companies, Phantom Secure, as part of a complex 
> law enforcement operation, according to court records and sources familiar with the matter.
>
> “FBI are flexing their muscle,” one source familiar with the secure phone industry, and who gave Motherboard specific 
> and accurate details about the operation before it was public knowledge, said. Motherboard granted the sources in 
> this story anonymity to talk about sensitive developments in the secure phone trade. The source said the Phantom 
> operation was carried out in partnership with Canadian and Australian authorities.
>
> A complaint filed in the Southern District of California on Thursday charges Vincent Ramos, the founder and CEO of 
> Canada-based Phantom, with racketeering conspiracy to conduct enterprise affairs, as well as conspiracy to distribute 
> narcotics, and aiding and abetting. Authorities arrested Ramos on Thursday, according to the court docket. Crucially, 
> the complaint alleges that Ramos and Phantom were not simply incidental to a crime, like Apple might be when a 
> criminal uses an iPhone, but that the company was specifically created to facilitate criminal activity.
>
> The heavily redacted complaint, written by FBI Special Agent Nicholas Cheviron, alleges that even members of the 
> notorious Sinaloa drug cartel used Phantom’s devices, and that the “upper echelon members” of transnational criminal 
> groups have bought Phantom phones. A second source also familiar with the secure phone industry told Motherboard that 
> the devices have been sold in Mexico, Cuba, and Venezuela, as well as to the Hells Angels gang. Cheviron estimates 
> that 20,000 Phantom devices are in use worldwide, with around half of those in Australia; bringing in tens of 
> millions of dollars of revenue to Phantom.
>
> Some of Phantom’s customer email addresses, used as part of Phantom’s messaging service, make references to violent 
> crime. “Leadslinger,” “the.cartel,” “trigger-happy,” and “knee_capper9” are all examples provided in the complaint.
>
> In addition to removing the microphone and camera from BlackBerry devices, Phantom also takes out GPS navigation, 
> internet browsing, and normal messenger services, the complaint reads. Phantom then installs Pretty Good Privacy 
> (PGP) software to send encrypted messages, and routes these messages through overseas servers, the complaint alleges. 
> The complaint points to Hong Kong and Panama as countries “believed by PHANTOM SECURE to be uncooperative with law 
> enforcement.” Phantom can also remotely wipe devices in the event they are seized by authorities.
>
> In order to pin Phantom to criminal activities, Canada’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) purchased Phantom 
> devices while posing as drug traffickers. The RCMP then asked if it was safe to send messages such as “sending MDMA 
> to Montreal,” to which Phantom replied it was “totally fine.” The RCMP also pretended that authorities had arrested 
> an associate with incriminating evidence on the phone, and needed Phantom to wipe the device. Multiple undercover 
> agents, posing as drug traffickers looking to expand their operations, also met Ramos in Las Vegas in February 2017, 
> the complaint continues.
>
> “We made it—we made it specifically for this [drug trafficking] too,” Ramos told undercover agents, according to a 
> transcript included in the complaint.
>
> [snip]
>
> Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: http://dewaynenet.wordpress.com/feed/
> Twitter: https://twitter.com/wa8dzp



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