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New York Indicts Five More in International Credit Card Sting

by Warren Riddle on September 2, 2009 at 06:22 PM


In 2007, a two-year identity theft investigation operated by the Secret Service and the Manhattan District Attorney's office culminated with the arrests of 17 people. The sting focused on Western Express International, a now exposed crime syndicate that operated two dummy Web sites.

On Monday, the Big Apple D.A.'s office indicted five more men who, it believes, played integral roles in the money laundering and identity theft schemes. Wired is reporting that two of the men have been arrested and are in custody in New York, one man was arrested in Greece and is awaiting extradition, and two men are still on the lam. Now dubbed the Western Express Cybercrime Group by authorities, the organization operated between 2001 and 2007, allegedly stealing over $4 million dollars through various credit card scams.



The two men in custody in New York, 33-year-old Vasilyev Viatcheslav and 31-year-old Vladimir Kramarenko, reportedly had over 55,000 and 75,000 stolen credit card numbers in their respective e-mail accounts. Among other phishing scams, the two allegedly advertised non-existent goods on eBay. After someone purchased a listed product, the perps would accept the payment, then use stolen card numbers to buy a similar item and ship it to the eBay winner.

To harvest those credit card numbers the syndicate primarily relied on the dummy Web sites and phishing scams, both of which are easily preventable. Only purchase goods through trusted Web sites, never divulge personal information unless it's absolutely necessary, and fortify your account passwords. Although IBM says phishing is on the decline, it's always important to be wary, so, to remain vigilant, you can check out the Switched guide to popular and widespread scams. [From: Wired]

Tags: crime, IDtheft, law, phishing, security, top, Western International, WesternInternational

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