(Washington, D.C.) - In 2004, the Secret Service arrested more than 28
individuals as part of an undercover investigation. The suspects, located across
eight states and six foreign countries, were involved in a global cyber organized
crime network. Charges against the suspects included identity theft, computer
fraud, credit card fraud and conspiracy.
The suspects targeted the personal and financial information of ordinary citizens
as well as the confidential and proprietary information of companies engaged in
e-commerce. With the suspects collectively having trafficked in at least 1.7
million stolen credit card numbers, financial institutions approximated their
actual losses associated with the suspects in the investigation to be more than
$4.3 million. However, authorities calculate estimates of prevented loss to the
industry amounted to potentially hundreds of millions of dollars had this
criminal enterprise not been disrupted.