Eleven People Indicted for Massive Credit Card Fraud

By Pamela Mortimer

Eleven people were indicted Tuesday regarding what the Department of Justice is referring to as the country’s largest single case of identity theft. Reports show that the instigators of the scheme allegedly stole millions of credit and debit card numbers from major retailers throughout the U.S.

Targeted retailers include OfficeMax, TJX Companies, Barnes & Noble, BJs Wholesale Club, Boston Market, Forever 21, Sports Authority, and DSW.

"This is the single largest and most complex identity theft case ever charged in this country," Attorney General Michael Mukasey said at a press conference in Boston on Tuesday.

Mukasey was unable to put a definite dollar amount on the theft, saying that it was "impossible to quantify at this point."

Michael J. Sullivan, U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, said most of the victims are located in the U.S. but not all have been identified.

"I suspect that a lot of people are unaware that their identifying information has been compromised," he said.

The "alleged ringleader" in the federal indictment is Albert "Segvec" Gonzalez, a Miami resident, who had previously worked as a Secret Service informant. Gonzalez has been charged with access device fraud, wire fraud, computer fraud, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy. He faces a potential life sentence for his role in the scheme.

The indictment alleges that "Gonzales and his co-conspirators stole over 40 million credit and debit card numbers making this the largest credit card fraud and identity theft scheme ever identified, investigated and prosecuted in the United States," said Sullivan.

In addition to Gonzalez, fellow Miami residents Damon Patrick Toey and Christopher Scott, were named in the indictment.

Investigators say Gonzalez and his team tapped into computer networks using an electronic technique called "war driving."

"War driving is simply driving around in a car with a laptop computer looking for accessible wireless computer networks," Sullivan said.

Once a retailer's network was located the team would allegedly hack into the system and install "sniffer programs," which would be able to access and relay confidential credit card information back to the team.

"This allowed the defendants to remotely capture sensitive information such as the card numbers, passwords and account information," Sullivan said.

After obtaining the sensitive information, officials believe that the men sold the information to other criminals abroad and encrypted blank credit cards to permit withdrawals from ATMs.