Feds charge 11, some overseas, in largest-ever identity theft bust

The U.S. Justice Department said today that it had charged 11 people for their alleged roles in the largest identify theft case cracked to date, one best known for the loss of personal information on customers at chains owned by TJX Cos., including TJ Maxx.

The ring is accused of driving past retailers and restaurants with wireless equipment, looking for ways into the corporate wireless networks. Once inside, they planted "sniffers" to capture credit card and debit card information as it was being transmitted internally, according to indictments in Boston and San Diego.

A three-year undercover investigation turned up records on 41 million people stored on computers in Eastern Europe. Tens of millions of dollars were lost as the perpetrators created new bank cards with stolen data and then made withdrawals from ATM machines.

U.S. Atty. Gen. Michael Mukasey and other officials said the ring was led by a Secret Service informant who functioned as a triple agent, warning suspects of ongoing probes. Albert Gonzalez of Miami faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Also charged were residents of Ukraine, Estonia and China, underscoring the increasing globalization of cyber-crime.

-- Joseph Menn

Photo: Atty. Gen. Michael Mukasey. Credit: Gerald Herbert / Associated Press

Comments

[Figgins]

Time to go all cash, all the time?

[Jon M.]

There was a time in the late 1800's when banks issued their own money and counterfeiting was over the top. The the Feds issued their own money making it legal tender everywhere and mass counterfeiting ceased. Perhaps it is time that the Feds take charge of credit and debit cards and issue them, like money, through the Federal Reserve while granting access to specific accounts at various banks.

[Alex]

>>>There was a time in the late 1800's when banks issued their own money and counterfeiting was over the top. The the Feds issued their own money making it legal tender everywhere and mass counterfeiting ceased. Perhaps it is time that the Feds take charge of credit and debit cards and issue them, like money, through the Federal Reserve while granting access to specific accounts at various banks.<<<

Wow, where to begin.

Do you really want the federal government knowing everything you buy with any kind of card? Actually, I guess you do; it's obvious from your comment that you trust the government implicitly. The Patriot Act, the War on Drugs, the national debt, etc. etc. etc., notwithstanding.

Secondly, what makes you think the government would do even as good a job of it as private credit banks? For every NSA, there's a slipshod, slow-moving IRS or a completely incompetent TSA.

Regardless of whether or not this system would do the job it's intended to do, and regardless of how many jobs it would do that it's NOT intended to do, it would be vastly more expensive than the current system. That's always the case with government operations, because there are no market forces to keep them honest. One could reasonably expect the fees and APRs of such a system to make even the most rapacious bank look generous, and the increase in everyone's tax burden that such an enormous bureaucracy would require would be notable.

What's needed here is not bureaucracy. What's needed is for the irresponsible TJX corporation to be sued into the ground, and for other private and public entities to take this case as a wake-up call and take information security seriously.

[KW]

Thank you, Alex.
Exactly. We need better information security and we need these companies to take things seriously. There will always be people out to steal, and it's vital that the companies that we trust with our personal information protect it.

But the part of this story that most interests me is the part about the ring being LED by a Secret Service INFORMANT who was playing TRIPLE agent and tipping off the suspects about investigations. What does this really mean? Was the informant pulling the wool over the Secret Service's eyes for a long time before they caught on or was this part of the plan all along? How long and how many additional millions were stolen because the Service failed to recognize the deception?