Romeo Stepanenko, 3W3RR
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B Rufzeichen / Call Signs
Provisorische Liste / Work in progress
Short list of Romeo's Call Signs
1S0RR, 1S0XV, 1S1RR, 3W3RR/UF6F (earthquake rescue operation), 3W3RR/mm (South China Sea), 3W5JA, 3W7A, 3W8AA, 3W100HCM, 4J1FM, 4J1FW, 4J0Q, 4L/AH0M, 4U1ITU, 4U1VIC, 5A0RR, 9D0RR, 9H3UP, 9H50VE, 9Y4/AH0M, AH0M, AH0M/am (Bermuda Triangle perambulation), AH0M/VE2, AH0M/VE3, AH0M/W4 (Dry Tortugas Isl.), BY1PK, DL/AH0M, EK0JA, EK0RR/am (hot air balloon), EK0RR/mm (Russian Navy submarine), EW8TJ, FJ/AH0M, FS/AH0M, HB0/3W3RR, HB9/AH0M, IT9/AH0M (Etna volcano), J37/AH0M, J6/AH0M, JA3ZTN, JI1ZTA, KP2/AH0M, KP4/AH0M, LZ1KDP, LZ9A, LZ/AH0M, OE/AH0M, OK8ERR, OM9CRR, P5RS7, PJ2/AH0M, PJ7/AH0M, R3A (Russian Parliament, 20-21 August 1991), RB4JWS/UF1O (South Ossetia), RB4JWS/UF1Q (Adzharia), RB4JWS/UF1V (Abkhazia), RO/3W3RR (Pridnestrovie), S79R, TA1/3W3RR, TA2/3W3RR, UB5JRR, UB5JRR/UA6E (Mount Elbrus), UB5JRR/UA6X, UQ1GWW, V2A/AH0M, VP2E/AH0M, VP2M/AH0M, VP2M/AH0M/am (helicopter), VP5/AH0M, XE2/AH0M, XV2A, XV0SU, XV100HCM, XY0RR, YA0RR, YL1WW, YL75ID (Island of Death), as well as the guest operations courtesy to the friends' & clubs' hospitality worldwide: 5B4, 8Q7, 9H1, 9H4, A41, A61, AP2, DL, EA, EI, EP, ES, G, I, HA, HB9, HB0, JA, OE, OK, PA, SP, UA1-0, UC2, UD6, UH8, UI8, UL7, UO5, TA, VE2-3, VO2, VU2, W1-8, YK, YL, YO
Detailed list of Romeo's Call Signs ► Mehr/read on
C The early years
Romeo Stepanenko was born 1964 in the Ukraine, son of Vladimir Stepanenko UB1RR who most probably introduced him to amateur radio. Nothing is known, to date, of Romeo's childhood and youth, or of his military service. Nor do we know where and when he obtained his license.
His own accounts start in early 1989:
1989: 3W3RR, Vietnam
Romeo, meanwhile, had enrolled with a joint Soviet-Vietnamese company, Kiulong, and on that firm's payroll went to Vietnam, in late 1989.
The Minister of telecommunications of that country wanted to create an Amateur Radio Society; so, after a little thinking, I accepted a job to conduct courses for new hams, create a club station, produce rules and regulations for the Vietnamese. During the day I taught my hams-to-be; at night I got on the air and operated" 3W3RR.
April/May 1990: 1S0XV/1S1RR, Spratly
Expedition-Video: hier - YouTube video here: : 
ext. Link -- Quoting from Romeo's report: "By February <1990> I had established some good connections with the local officials in Saigon and started gathering information ... to look into the possibility of a Spratly operation. ... Finally it was becoming clear that this matter could be resolved only in Hanoi, at the highest level.
January and December, 1991: YA0RR, Afghanistan
The idea of reactivating amateur radio in the middle of political chaos was certainly both a questionable and daring undertaking, but one man held on to this crazy idea: Romeo Stepanenko 3W3RR, who allegedly used his excellent personal contacts to further this adventure. Due to his secretive activities a widespread rumor stubbornly existed that Romeo may have been a high-ranking official of the Soviet secret service KGB. Romeo did not want to disclose how he obtained his license...
Romeo's photo album (Courtesy ofSilversun)
1 - Flight Moscow-Tashkent / 2 - Fluight Tashkent - Kabul / 3, 4 - Kabul Airport / 5, 6 - Kabul street scenes / 7 - ??? / 8 - The Shack / 9 - On the road in Mazar-al-Sharif / 10 - Mazar-al-Sharif
1991: Moscow interlude for a new-born hero - and a trip around the world
The incredible career of Romeo Stepanenko - and a world-tour
YouTube video: 
ext. Link -- Russia's "White House" in Moscow is the seat of the Russian government. The building figured prominently on the morning of 19 August, 1991: Soviet officials launched a coup. Boris Yeltsin left for the Russian White House shortly after the coup was announced, encountering tanks and armored personnel carriers along the way. At 1 p.m. he climbed atop a tank positioned just outside the building, denounced the coup as unconstitutional, and called for Gorbachev's release from house arrest. Radio amateurs took a vital role during these dramatic hours.
September 1991: XY0RR, Myanmar - and 1S0VX/1S1RR, Spratly, again
Only a few days after his spectacular appearance in Moscow, Romeo landed his next coup, something just unthinkable (or so people thought at that time): From 30 August, 1991 he activated, the former Burma. It was the first (initially) recognized amateur rdsio operation after almost thirty years. No wonder that Myanmar ranked amongst the most wanted DXCC Entities worldwide. For two weeks four Soviet hams activated XYØRR.
August 1992: 9D0RR, Iran / December 1992: P5RS7, North Korea
Romeo Stepanenko, the unsurpassed big gun of amateur radio...
It was Romeo's greatest time. He was celebrated as a hero, invited to every major hamvention, honoured guest and everybody's darling. He obtained a US license and, in fact, collected call sign after call sign in incredibly short time - adding up to about fifty. Romeo was the highlight at the Dayton hamvention, in 1992, where we signed QSL cards and met his buddies. And the miracles continued: Romeo even topped his fame by activating another two "impossible" DXCC Entities.
August 1993: 5A0RR, Libya
The Last Coup
Romeo states, "Originally, plans called for the use of six amateur radio operators for 5A, but due to the lack of funding we had to limit ourselves to three operators: Said (Libyan), who currently holds the call sign 5A0RR, Danny, LZ2UU and myself. During the operation, which lasted five days, we worked over 11,000 stations...
February 1996: Romeo's decline and fall
The game is over
DX Bulletin 11 ARLD011 - From ARRL Headquarters Newington CT - February 21, 1996 -To all radio amateurs SB DX ARL ARLD011 ARLD011
Awards committee vote
The ARRL Awards Committee met recently to review submitted documentation for the 1992-93 P5RS7 operation submitted by Romeo Stepanenko. After a review of all material available, the Awards Committee voted unanimously to disqualify Romeo Stepanenko from participation in the DXCC program. This disqualification is based upon Rule 12, Operations Ethics, and Rule 13. The disqualification means that Stepanenko is not eligible to participate in the DXCC program in any manner. This includes, as provided for under Rule 12, paragraph (b) disallowance of contacts made with any station or DXpedition operated by him from the time of this action.
Ending behind bars
Romeo used various aliases due to his different jobs which dealt with different governments: names Romero Vega and Roman Vega were on his Guatemalan and Costa-Rican passports (with latest he was arrested in Cyprus). Based on information revealed by U.S. Secret Service, Romeo, aside of his Ukrainian and Russian passports issued on the name "Stepanenko", had been holding a few more passports: Estonian, Belgium, Greek, and United Kingdom, issued with the other different names. - He was arrested and extradited from Cyprus to the United States in March of 2004, and has been charged with 40 counts of wire fraud and trafficking in stolen credit card numbers. He is alleged to have done this in online chat rooms. He allegedly bilked over $3 million out of this scheme. Romeo has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He has been held in northern California, as he is considered a flight risk.
Romeo's trial was scheduled to begin in San Francisco on Monday, November 28, 2005.
An update from Ed Kritsky...
(Photo: Romeo) We have tried time and again to find out about Romeo's whereabaouts after his detention. US authorities denied information, and Romeo's father, too, did not want to comment on his son's fate. But now Bernie McClenny, W3UR, the publisher of the Daily DX Bulletin, reveived an email from Ed Kritsky, NT2X, Romeo's buddy during the days of early fame, reprint and duplication permitted. Here is Ed's account:
...and an update from Romeo himself
Legal note: The opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the publisher of this web site.
"Currently I am incarcerated in New York’s MDC (Metropolitan Detention Center) in Brooklyn. I was arrested almost 10 years ago and have still not been sentenced by the American court. I was last arrested in 2003 in Cyprus, alleged to be Boa and charged (on the base of very flimsy and circumstantial evidence) of being one of the organizers and leaders of the criminal hacker-carder syndicate CarderPlanet and BoaFactory. A year and a half after the arrest, in 2004, I was extradited from Cyprus to the United States. My extradition documents were cooked by Cyprus police, based on the Interpol order initiated by the U.S. Government.
Romeo's "Jail QSLs"
Obviously, Romeo doesn't have access to radio equipment while he is in jail. However, to receive his jail-QSL, it's unnecessary to make on-air QSO with him. The numbered jail-card will be sent to anyone whose card Romeo receives by mail at his current jail's address: "If your QSL-card makes it through the jail's censorship, and arrives into my hands, this means that the jail-QSO has indeed taken place. Henceforth, you will find your callsign in the 3W3RR jail-pedition log ext. Link as well as on twitter @RomanVega_com. Afterwards you will receive by snail mail a 3W3RR jail-pedition numbered QSL card. According to the jail's mail policies, a prisoner is only permitted to receive letters, postcards, photos and printouts. QSLs are considered postcards, and generally make it through. Do not send IRCs, postage stamps, green stamps or S.A.S.E., as all of these are considered contraband and immediately trashed (frequently along with the entire envelope's contents). Books and magazines mailed from private parties are not permitted. CDs and DVDs are also prohibited,."
Send your QSL-cards only, nothing else, to the current jail's address:
Roman Vega / # 59198-004 / MDC Brooklyn / P.O.Box 329002 / Brooklyn, NY 11232, U.S.A.
(Note: Romeo was transferred, in April 2015, to Georgia (CI McRae).
Prior to mailing Romeo a QSL card, better to verify that he hasn't been transferred to another jail by checking his current address at ext. Link
December 2013: The verdict - 18 years!
The sentence was announced today by Loretta E. Lynch, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice; and Steven G. Hughes, Special Agent in Charge, United States Secret Service, New York Field Office.
“Roman Vega and his cybercriminal associates emulated the mafia in organizing their criminal operations,” stated United States Attorney Lynch. “Now, he shares the same fate as so many mafia bosses – a long term of imprisonment. This investigation spanned the globe and sends the unmistakable warning that when it comes to dismantling global cybercrime organizations, neither distance nor complexity will deter us and our partners in law enforcement.” Ms. Lynch expressed her grateful appreciation to the United States Postal Inspection Service for its assistance.
“Today’s sentence is a significant milestone in our ongoing effort to aggressively target and dismantle global cybercrime organizations that operate from every corner of the world,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Raman. “Vega helped create one of the largest and most sophisticated credit card fraud sites in the cybercrime underworld – a distinction that has earned him the substantial sentence he received today.”
“The Secret Service is pleased to have participated in this multi-agency criminal investigation that lead to the arrest of Roman Vega also known as ‘Boa’,” said Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Hughes. “This case demonstrates by constricting this criminal enterprise, there is no such thing as anonymity in the cyber world. The Secret Service continues to seek new and innovative ways to combat emerging cyber threats. Our success in this case and other similar investigations is a result of our close work with our network law enforcement partners.”
Vega, who at various times was also known as “Boa,” “Roman Stepanenko,” “Randy Riolta,” and “RioRita,” formed two online marketplaces for stolen credit card information. In the late 1990s, he founded the Boa Factory, one of the earliest websites on the Internet to provide a forum for buyers and sellers of stolen credit card information. In the early 2000s, he co-founded and became a high-ranking administrator of a second criminal website, CarderPlanet, which became one of the first and busiest online marketplaces for the sale of stolen financial information, computer hacking services, and money laundering.
At its height, CarderPlanet had more than 6,000 members and had a hierarchical leadership structure that borrowed its leadership titles from La Cosa Nostra. For example, CarderPlanet was headed by a “Godfather.” Immediately below the Godfather were a number of “Dons,” including Vega, who used the name “Boa” when serving in this role. Two levels below the Dons was the “Consigliere,” who was an advisor. Vega, using the name “RioRita,” also served as the Consigliere.
CarderPlanet quickly became a premier online criminal bazaar in significant part as a result of Vega’s leadership. Most notably, he helped institute a quality control system for sales. If a cyberthief wanted to sell stolen credit card information on CarderPlanet, the information was subjected to a vetting process overseen by a manager to ensure that buyers obtained usable stolen data. In addition, the website used e-currencies, such as WebMoney, to provide the participants with security and the cloak of anonymity. As a result, Vega and his co-conspirators created an efficient and reliable online marketplace for the buyers and sellers of stolen financial information not unlike legitimate e-commerce sites.
Vega also sold stolen data on the marketplaces he founded and managed. He directed cells of cybercriminals around the globe who hacked into financial institutions to steal credit card and other financial information that would in turn be sold on online marketplaces, including CarderPlanet.
Vega was arrested in Cyprus in February 2003 and extradited to the Northern District of California for prosecution. In November 2007, Vega was transferred to the Eastern District of New York following his indictment on the instant charges. Vega has been incarcerated continuously since 2003.
The sentencing proceeding was held before Senior United States District Judge Allyne R. Ross. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney William P. Campos of the Eastern District of New York and Senior Counsel Thomas Dukes of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime & Intellectual Property Section.
The Defendant: ROMAN VEGA, Age: 49, Ukraine
E.D.N.Y. Docket No. CR-07-707 (ARR)
January 2020: released!
From the York County Prison (PA) where he was held from November 2019, Romeo was escorted to the airplane jetway at JFK airport and on February 1, 2020 landed in Russia.
