Internet fraud and identity theft may be rife and getting more dangerous as time passes, but it is somewhat comforting to see major rings get bust up from time to time.
New York authorities have said that 111 people from five criminal groups in New York have been indicted in what is being claimed as the “largest identity theft case” in the history of the United States of America – the product of a two-year investigation dubbed “Operation Swiper”.
86 of these individuals have been detained while the remaining 25 are being hunted down. But the reach of these groups are not limited to America alone.
These groups would work with others based in Europe, Africa, East Asia and even the Middle East. Together they have “robbed” a total of $13 million dollars in the span of just 16 months.
The groups would use service employees like bank tellers and restaurant workers to “skim” data from credit cards and then pass that data on to criminal technicians. The technicians would use this data forge credit cards which is then passed on to “shoppers.” The shoppers would buy high-end computers and computer parts with the express intent of reselling them to criminal syndicates outside of the United States.