It seems that on a monthly basis now, a new (and often the largest) multi-national credit card ring is brought to its knees. This week, however, the latest one to be discovered blows the others out of the water.
For more than a decade, a credit card ring that used progressively technological tactics to acquire data, found its way into some of the biggest businesses and payment processors in the world.
The end result was a credit card ring that managed to steal more than 160 million different credit card numbers and defraud consumers of at least hundreds of millions of dollars – possibly billions. From just four payment processors, more than $300 million in losses has been discovered.
The United States has moved to indict five individuals who have been implicated in the ring, with one of them currently in US custody. One other individual is currently being held in the Netherlands awaiting extradition, while three others remain at-large.
Not only has this proven to be the largest credit card theft ring ever discovered, but industry analysts also say that this is the largest data heist ever discovered. Some of the corporate victims of the credit card theft ring include JetBlue, NASDAQ, Dow Jones, and 7-Eleven. As the investigation continues, it is likely that other affected companies will come forward or be discovered.
Started roughly six years ago, the ring was founded by a former famous hacker who has since been sentenced to twenty years in prison. The operation continued, however, and made attempt after attempt to gain more credit card data and personal information. Over this time, a variety of credit card processors, retail outlets and corporate institutions fell victim to these attacks.
Once the information was in hand – commonly referred to as “dumps” due to them often consisting of thousands or millions of credit cards – it would then be split up and sold to black market middle-men who would then resell the data to lower-scale thieves. A verified dump could often be purchased for as little as $10 per credit card. This information could then be cloned onto duplicate cards and used just like any normal credit card.
Tags: