Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

178 Arrested In US/EU Credit Card Cloning Ops

Posted by timothy on from the spreading-the-wealth dept.

eldavojohn writes with this report from Brian Krebs: "Authorities have moved in on 178 people accused of working in credit card cloning labs across the USA and Europe, but with the bulk of the work apparently operating out of Spain. The source states that 'Police in 14 countries participated in a two-year investigation, initiated in Spain, where police have discovered 120,000 stolen credit card numbers and 5,000 cloned cards, and arrested 76 people and dismantled six cloning labs. The raids were made primarily in Romania, France, Italy, Germany, Ireland, and the United States, with arrests also made in Australia, Sweden, Greece, Finland, and Hungary. The detainees are also suspected of armed robbery, blackmail, sexual exploitation, and money-laundering, the police said.' Krebs notes a new credit card debuting at Turkish banks that appears to have a built-in LCD that has a random six-digit number associated with each transaction much like RSA SecurID keys used for computer logins."

4 of 103 comments (clear)

  1. Doesnt sound very profitable. by Rivalz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Close to 200 employees spanning multiple countries. And they take in only 25mil? Not just that but getting cash out of credit card companies I thought was a pain in the ass. Is it 25 mil per year or total? Because if it is total that seems like a shitty business investment. They should just stick to guns, drugs, and prostitution.

    1. Re:Doesnt sound very profitable. by Hatta · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Most of these people aren't doing it because it's lucrative. They do it because they have no legitimate options. The lowest rungs of any criminal enterprise gets paid shit wages just like any business. 200 people at 20k a year is 4 million for payroll. That leaves over 20 million for the boss.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    2. Re:Doesnt sound very profitable. by sznupi · · Score: 4, Insightful

      For many people in those ops 20k a year might be actually a quite decent level of income; compared to, say, the average at the place they are or from which they are.

      --
      One that hath name thou can not otter
  2. Re:Spain, Really? by blair1q · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Actually, innovating with new forms of income is why nations are going broke these days.

    They're pretending that speculation is investment, borrowing is income, and money-multiplication through circular lending is economic growth.

    And hidden among these obvious insanities is a much more subtle one that will snap the rubber band: they track money borrowed to speculate as risk at the interest rate of the loan, not at the rate-of-ruin of the speculation.

    The United States was as usual the most innovative, and therefore led the world. To a precipice and beyond. As usual by setting a good example.