Interpol has arrested 44
members of a globally based gang they suspect is responsible for the theft of
36,000 sets of credit card credentials.
Sometimes I wonder if I’m
in the wrong business.
Anyway, these guys had
the whole operation under control including malware implementation and the
actual construction of card reading devices to be used on ATMs and other point
of sale systems. Police believe the gang was based primarily out of Romania.
The gang used the stolen
credit cards to make purchases in Argentina, Colombia, the Dominican Republic,
Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the United States.
“This case is another
example of excellent police work and flawless cooperation and a proof of the
fact that EU law enforcement co-operation continues to improve.” says Troels
Oerting, head of the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) at Europol. [V3]
Operation Pandora-Storm
(could that name be more cliché?) involved 400 police officers from about 20
agencies across Europe, North America, and Australia.
Experts estimate the
group is responsible for $2.5 million in fraudulent activity.
And while this is a big
win for law enforcement, this gang only represents a drop in the bucket of global
credit card fraud that is estimated at nearly $2 billion per year.
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