Colorado man arrested in alleged international credit card fraud

Twenty-seven people have been arrested as part of an investigation by the FBI into what it describes as an international credit card fraud scheme, law enforcement authorities said yesterday.

Among those arrested in recent days is a Colorado man accused of selling electronics such as Apple iPads, gift cards and Sony computers that he allegedly obtained with stolen credit cards.

He lives about an hour north of Colorado Springs in Aurora. He was released on bail yesterday.

Arrests in the case have been spread out over the past couple of weeks, with people being taken into custody in the U.S., India and Canada, officials said.

The investigation is apparently ongoing, with more arrests possible.

The investigation is described by officials as the largest undercover sting targeting online, global trading of stolen credit card information.

An FBI spokesperson in New York said the operation targets “organized cyber criminals.”

The FBI apparently set up a website called Carder Profit designed to lure hackers and people who engage in identity theft. Officials said thousands of people entered the site to obtain credit card information that had been stolen from approximately 400,000 credit card holders.

Those credit card holders were apparently notified during the course of the two-year sting operation.

FBI agents monitored the site and arranged trades for stolen information. One man allegedly traded a digital camera for stolen credit card data.

The FBI reportedly used unique location identifiers known as internet protocol addresses to find out where the alleged perpetrators live.

Source: Wall Street Journal, “Sting Leads to 3 More Arrests in Alleged Card-Theft Ring,” July 11, 2012