Massive Identity Theft Case Leads to 11 Charged

The U.S. Department of Justice announced the indictment of eleven people said to have stolen millions in credit card fraud.

The U.S. Justice Department announced the indictment of eleven people, including three Americans in what is being called the most complex identity theft case in the nation's history. The group defrauded retailers such as BJs Wholesale Club, TJX Companies, OfficeMax, Boston Market, Sports Authority, Barnes & Noble, DSW, Forever 21, and more out of millions of dollars in credit card fraud.

The alleged ringleader is said to be Albert "Segvec" Gonzalez of Miami, Florida. He had worked as a confidential informant for the Secret Service and has been charged with computer fraud, wire fraud, access device fraud, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy and faces life imprisonment for his role in the scheme.

It is alleged that Gonzalez and his co-conspirators stole over 40 million credit and debit card numbers which makes this the largest credit card and identity theft scheme in the nation's history.

Gonzalez and his party would engage in what is known as "war driving". This is where the team would simply drive around with a laptop computer and sniff out accessible wireless networks. Once they found a network that was accessible, they would hack into the network system and install a "sniffer" program. This program would capture and relay sensitive credit card information back to the team and allowed them to remotely capture the account information. This system worked especially well when the team found an unsecured retail network.

Two other Americans named were Christopher Scott and Damon Patrick Toey, also of Miami. In the Ukraine were named Maksym "Maksik" Yastremskiy of Kharkov and Aleksandr "Jonny Hell" Suvorov of Sillamae, Estonia. Indictments were also handed down against Hung-Ming Chiu and Zhi Zhi Wang, both of China, and a person known only by the online nickname "Delpiero". All were charged with crimes related to the sale of stolen credit card data.

Federal Officials have suggested that anyone who thinks that they might be affected by the identity theft, contact your bank or credit card issuer.