An undercover investigation led by the US Secret Service has led
to the arrests of 28 individuals across seven countries. Charges
include identity theft, computer fraud, credit card fraud and
conspiracy.
"Led by the Secret Service Newark Field Office, investigators
from nearly 30 domestic and foreign Secret Service offices and
their global law enforcement counterparts have prevented
potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in loss to the
financial and hi-tech communities," said Secret Service Director W.
Ralph Basham.
He said the suspects targeted the personal and financial
information of individuals as well as "the confidential and
proprietary information of companies engaged in e-commerce."
The Secret Service says that the suspects, in what it calls
Operation Firewall, collectively trafficked at least 1.7 million
stolen credit card numbers and financial institutions have
approximated their actual losses associated with the suspects in
the investigation to be more than $4.3 million.
