Feds seek to nab credit card thieves in La., Miss.

[lyger <lyger () attrition org>]

Courtesy Victor Chavez:

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/08/18/ap5334017.html

A ring of cyberthieves has stolen tens of thousands of credit card
numbers from Louisiana and Mississippi restaurants this year, leading to
over $1 million in losses for the banks that issued them.

The restaurants began reporting the thefts beginning in March in Baton
Rouge, followed by similar cases in Flowood, Miss., Lafayette, Lake
Charles and West Monroe. The hackers have swiped credit and debit card
numbers off 16 restaurants' computer systems, then sought to sell them
for anywhere between $1 and $100 each, according to Special Agent Sean
Connor of the U.S. Secret Service, an arm of the Treasury Department
that investigates financial crimes.

"Once they get a big pile of credit card numbers, they turn around and
sell them on the Internet," Connor said.

The cases appear connected and probably involve a criminal network that
stretches overseas, which would be consistent with other identity theft
<http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/06/25/ap5152958.html?partner=alerts
>  cases, U.S. Attorney David Dugas said. A group indicted in a separate
case earlier this month includes defendants from three continents.

Authorities have no total dollar figure for the losses sustained in the
Louisiana-Mississippi cases because the victims - local and national
banks - are still compiling figures, Connor said. The hardest hit is a
bank reporting over $1.1 million in losses, he said.

[...]
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