The FBI announces the largest action taken against credit card thieves
Posted on: 06/27/2012 04:57 PM
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Just announced, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has successfully carried out the largest operation against credit card criminals in recent history. In its press release, the New York Field office of the FBI stated that 24 suspects were arrested in a coordinated action across 13 countries, including the UK and Germany. The statement notes that the hacking group tried to obtain data from more than 411,000 credit and debit cards. "The FBI has prevented estimated potential economic losses of more than $205 million" (£131 million), said the agency, calling it the "largest coordinated international law enforcement action" against illegal data traders in history.
More than 30 search warrants were involved and it was the result of a two year undercover sting led by the FBI. US investigators acted in cooperation with the local law enforcement agencies including the
Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and Thames Valley Police in the UK. In Germany, they worked with the country's Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt, BKA). Six individuals from the UK and a German citizen were among those arrested.
The individuals who were arrested in the US are all around 20 years of age, though two unnamed minors were also arrested by the investigators in California. All of the suspects tried to use stolen credit cards, or phished card data, to raid their victims' bank accounts. To this end, they allegedly traded stolen account and credit card data with other group members. As the suspects used internet forums to communicate with each other, the FBI established an undercover forum where credit card criminals, also referred to as "carders", could trade stolen data.
"As the cyber threat grows more international, the response must be increasingly global and forceful", said Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara. "The coordinated law enforcement actions taken by an unprecedented number of countries around the world today demonstrate that hackers and fraudsters cannot count on being able to prowl the Internet in anonymity and with impunity, even across national boundaries", explained Bharara, adding that "clever computer criminals operating behind the supposed veil of the internet are still subject to the long arm of the law."
More than 30 search warrants were involved and it was the result of a two year undercover sting led by the FBI. US investigators acted in cooperation with the local law enforcement agencies including the
Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and Thames Valley Police in the UK. In Germany, they worked with the country's Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt, BKA). Six individuals from the UK and a German citizen were among those arrested.
The individuals who were arrested in the US are all around 20 years of age, though two unnamed minors were also arrested by the investigators in California. All of the suspects tried to use stolen credit cards, or phished card data, to raid their victims' bank accounts. To this end, they allegedly traded stolen account and credit card data with other group members. As the suspects used internet forums to communicate with each other, the FBI established an undercover forum where credit card criminals, also referred to as "carders", could trade stolen data.
"As the cyber threat grows more international, the response must be increasingly global and forceful", said Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara. "The coordinated law enforcement actions taken by an unprecedented number of countries around the world today demonstrate that hackers and fraudsters cannot count on being able to prowl the Internet in anonymity and with impunity, even across national boundaries", explained Bharara, adding that "clever computer criminals operating behind the supposed veil of the internet are still subject to the long arm of the law."
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