The largest identity theft case ever prosecuted in the United States.
More than 100 people, including a New York attorney, have been indicted in what is being termed the largest identity theft case ever prosecuted in the United States. The ring allegedly involved corrupt insiders at banks, stores and restaurants stealing customer data.
The suspects, members of five criminal gangs that operated primarily out of Queens County, New York, have ties to gangs in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and were allegedly responsible for fraud losses that amounted to more than $13 million in the 16-month period between May 2010 and September 2011. Eighty-six of the defendants have been arrested, while the remainder are still being sought, according to the Queens County District Attorney’s office.
New York attorney Susan Persaud, who was arrested Oct. 4, is accused of aiding some of the defendants by providing them with information about how to conduct their crimes and evade authorities. Persaud, 34, allegedly received payment for her services in the form of expensive designer shoes. Persaud did not respond to a call for comment.
“This is by far the largest and certainly amongst the most sophisticated identity-theft credit card fraud cases that any of us have ever seen,” said Queens district attorney, Richard A. Brown, in a statement.
According to an Operation Swiper press release, restaurant and store employees used hand-held skimming devices to swipe the bank card details of customers in some cases, while bank employees stole data in other cases. Operation Swiper press release:http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/2011/10/Operation-Swiper.pdf
That data was then passed to criminal colleagues who embossed the data onto blank cards and passed them to mules who went on high-end shopping sprees in New York, Florida, Massachusetts, California and elsewhere. The mules racked up charges, buying iPads, iPhones, and other Apple electronics, as well as designer handbags from Gucci and Louis Vuitton, and designer shoes and jewelry, much of which was fenced online for cash.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/10/13-million-id-theft-bust/