The operators of a New York business have been charged with running a massive identity-theft and money-laundering operation that raked in more than $35 million over a four-year period.
In total, 17 people have been indicted in the investigation, which centered on a midtown Manhattan company called Western Express International. The charges were announced Wednesday by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, following a two-year investigation by the Manhattan DA and the United States Secret Service. They are facing as much as 25 years each in prison.
"The defendants participated in a multinational, Internet-based, criminal enterprise ... dedicated to trafficking in stolen credit card numbers and other personal identifiers," the DA said in a statement.
Western Express had been based at 555 Eighth Avenue, in New York, and it operated the Dengiforum.com and Paycard2000.com Web sites. Both of these Web sites were operational on Thursday.
According to the DA, criminals played a variety of roles in the scheme. Criminals who had access to stolen credit card numbers would be hooked up with buyers via what the DA called "cybercrime service providers." Finally, there were "money movers," who would use digital currencies such as Egold and Webmoney to launder the proceeds.
The defendants would meet on "carder" forums, Web sites designed to facilitate this type of illicit commerce, the DA said.
In total, the group trafficked more than 95,000 stolen credit card numbers. Authorities have identified more than $4 million worth of credit card fraud with the group, but they say Western Express bank accounts moved more than $35 million in funds over four years. The illegal activity lasted longer than that, the DA states, running from 2001 to 2007.
Last year, two of Western Express's corporate officers received prison sentences after pleaded guilty to illegal check-cashing and money-laundering activities.
The Secret Service referred questions on this case to the Manhattan DA's office. DA representatives did not return calls seeking comment.
This whitepaper explains the terminology and concepts behind Data Replication technologies and establishes some sizing rules through worked examples. Learn the new paradigm in disaster tolerance—protect data anywhere.
Download now »
Server virtualization is a popular option for dealing with mounting datacenter costs. Another equally promising approach is the use of an Application Delivery Controller. Citrix NetScaler provides a low-cost way for organizations to reduce their server count and accrue cost savings from a reduction in space, cooling, power and personnel.
Download now »
The emergence of WLANs has created a new breed of security threats to enterprise networks.
Included in HP ProCurve WLAN solutions is security technology that alleviates threats from WLANs through:
* Monitoring wireless activity inside and out of the enterprise
* Classifying WLAN transmissions into harmful and harmless
* Preventing transmissions that pose a security threat to the enterprise network
* Locating participating devices for physical remediation
Effectively address data protection challenges, implementing solutions that help store and protect business–critical data while cutting costs and improving efficiency and reliability.
Download now »
Sign up to receive Security Resource Alerts
This white paper provides guidance on how to develop a strategic approach to managing and monitoring logs, a key function required for compliance with many regulatory mandates and a critical defense against security threats.
Download now! »
Learn about the processes and technologies that support security information management (SIM) operations, as well as the business case for SIM. The series examines different options for implementing SIM and gives you evaluation criteria for selecting the best option for your organization.
Download now! »
Learn the strategies, actions, and capabilities that Best-in-Class organizations employ and technologies they choose to obtain superior performance against various security performance metrics. This report provides guidelines for identifying which security solutions to consume as a MSS and defines best practices for choosing and managing MSSPs.
Download now! »
Recommend This
