On October 7th<\/sup> the District Attorney of Queens
\nCounty, NY and City of New York Police announced the biggest identity theft<\/a>
\ntakedown in U.S. history. After two years of investigating crime rings in
\nEurope, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 111 people have been indicted, and 86
\nof them are in custody.<\/p>\n
The financial losses are reported to exceed $13 million over
\na 16-month timeframe.<\/p>\n
It is reported that employees in restaurants, bars, retail
\nstores and financial institutions have been linked, using handheld skimming<\/a>
\ndevices and illegal websites to collect card details.<\/p>\n
“This is by far the largest – and certainly among the
\nmost sophisticated – identity theft\/credit card fraud cases that law
\nenforcement has come across,” said District Attorney Brown. “Credit card
\nfraud<\/a> and identity theft are two of the fastest growing crimes in the
\nUnited States, afflicting millions of victims and costing billions of dollars
\nin losses to consumers, businesses and financial institutions. … Even after
\nthe culprits are caught and prosecuted, their victims are still faced with the
\ndifficult task of having to repair their credit ratings and financial
\nreputations. In some cases, that process can take years, said Jerry Silva,
\nfraud analyst and consultant.<\/p>\n