Fergie's Tech Blog

Florida Counterfeit Credit Card Ring Busted

Brian Krebs writes on Security Fix:

Six individuals in Florida have been indicted for running an organized credit card counterfeiting ring that netted more than 200,000 stolen account numbers, the U.S. Secret Service said today.

Julio Lopez, 30, and his girlfriend, Anett Villar, 26, were arrested in February for trafficking in credit cards they allegedly fabricated using legitimate account numbers purchased online from other criminals. (Both are listed as living in Hialeah, Fla.)

Investigators said they traced communications between Lopez -- using the online screen name "Blinky" -- and four Cuban men in Florida who authorities alleged were sending large payments to cyber crooks in Eastern Europe in exchange for tens of thousands of stolen credit card numbers. Those numbers were then used to fabricate fake credit cards in several production centers throughout Florida.

Neither indictment includes this information, but a press release from the Secret Service said the men paid for the goods via E-Gold, an online payment service that was raided by the FBI earlier this year.

posted by Fergie @ 7/09/2007 11:03:00 AM