Feds Indict 55 For Cyber Crime Fraud

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/232300772

By Mathew J. Schwartz
InformationWeek
December 19, 2011

Federal authorities Friday announced the indictment of 55 people for 
participating in a cyber crime fraud ring that relied on insiders to 
steal hundreds of people's personal details from a bank and a car 
dealer, among other organizations. The stolen information was then used 
to defraud both the victims, as well as the organizations at which the 
insiders worked.

"These insiders used their positions to gain access to client data, and 
then sold that data to make money for themselves and their accomplices," 
said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., in a statement.

All told, the various defendants--charged in five separate 
indictments--stole information relating to 200 people or organizations, 
and in many cases used the stolen information more than once. 
Authorities have accused the defendants of stealing more than $2 million 
just from financial institutions, including American Express, Chase 
Bank, Citibank, Discover, and TD Bank. The charges relates to crimes 
allegedly committed between May 2010 and September 2011.

Authorities said the arrests were part of an 18-month investigation, 
which remains ongoing. During the course of that investigation, the New 
York Police Department's Financial Crimes Task Force, the Manhattan 
District Attorney's Office, as well as investigators from other 
agencies, including the U.S. Postal Service, employed "court-ordered 
eavesdropping, physical surveillance, computer forensics, and extensive 
analysis of credit card, banking, and phone records" to trace the crimes 
back to the accused.

[...]


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