5 Indicted in $300M Credit Card Fraud Spree

by William White | July 26, 2013 10:42 am

[1]Federal prosecutors, announced Thursday[2], that they have charged five men for credit card fraud that cost companies $300 million.

Prosecutors say that the five men, who are from Russia and Ukraine, stole at least 160 million payment card numbers,  which resulted in the $300 million of theft. The men each had specific jobs when stealing the information. Two of them would hack into networks, one would mine for the data, another covered up their tracks and the last one sold the stolen data. Two of these men are currently in custody, reports Reuters.

“This type of crime is the cutting edge,” Paul J. Fishman, New Jersey U.S. Attorney, told Reuters. “Those who have the expertise and the inclination to break into our computer networks threaten our economic well-being, our privacy and our national security.”

The companies hacked include:

• Nasdaq (NDAQ[3]) – Installed software that allowed hackers to execute commands to delete, change or steal data.
• J.C. Penny (JCP[4]) – Company was hacked, but it is unknown if anything was stolen.
• JetBlue Airways (JBLU[5]) – Company was hacked, but it is unknown if anything was stolen.
• Carrefour SA – 2 million cards stolen.
• Dexia Bank Belgium – $1.7 million stolen.
• The Wet Seal (WTSL[6]) – Company was hacked, but it is unknown if anything was stolen.
• 7-Eleven – Company was hacked, but it is unknown if anything was stolen.
• Citigroup’s (C[7]) Citibank – Bank account information stolen from 2005 to 2008
• PNC Financial Services Group (PNC[8]) – Bank account information stolen from 2005 to 2008
• Hannaford Brothers – 4.2 million cards stolen.
• Discover (DFS[9]) – 2 million cards stolen.
• News Corp’s (NWSA[10]) Dow Jones – 10,000 corporate logins stolen.
• Heartland Payment Systems (HPY[11]) – 130 million cards stolen.
• Commidea – 30 million cards stolen.
• Euronet (EEFT[12]) – 2 million cards stolen.
• Global Payments (GPN[13]) – 950,000 cards stolen.

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2013/07/5-indicted-in-300m-credit-card-fraud-spree/

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