Jay Clayton, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York | Department of Justice
Kamerin Stokes, also known as "TheMFNPlug," was sentenced on April 16 to 30 months in prison for his involvement in a scheme that targeted user accounts on a fantasy sports and betting website. The sentencing took place before U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald, following Stokes's guilty plea to one count of conspiring to commit computer intrusion.
The case highlights the growing risks associated with cyberattacks targeting online platforms where users often reuse passwords. According to the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, thousands of users were affected by the attack, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses.
"Kamerin Stokes victimized thousands of users of an online betting website though a cyberattack," said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. "After pleading guilty to federal crimes, Stokes audaciously reopened his criminal business, marketed using the tagline ‘fraud is fun,’ and said that he opened the new Shop in part because ‘gotta pay my attorneys,’ referring to his prosecution in this case. Fraud is not fun; fraud on the street or fraud online will not be tolerated. Today’s federal prison sentence is a direct message to any others who think online fraud is different."
Court documents show that on November 18, 2022, several individuals carried out a credential stuffing attack against the betting website by using stolen username and password pairs obtained from other data breaches. This allowed them unauthorized access to about 60,000 user accounts—referred to as Victim Accounts—on the platform. In many cases, attackers added new payment methods and withdrew funds from these compromised accounts.
Stokes controlled his own illicit marketplace—or "Shop"—where he sold access credentials for these victim accounts under his alias "TheMFNPlug." He obtained over $125,000 worth of compromised account value from the betting site alone and continued selling stolen credentials even after pleading guilty.
In addition to his prison term, Stokes was sentenced to three years supervised release and ordered to pay $125,965.53 in forfeiture along with $1,327,061 in restitution. Clayton praised the Federal Bureau of Investigation for its work on this case.
