86 People Arrested in What Is Probably the Largest Identity Theft Scheme Ever

Members of five criminal groups and their accomplices are indicted by a Queens county court for allegedly stealing $13 million (€9.1 million) in a period of less than two years, mostly by copying the credit cards of unsuspecting victims.

According to Wired, the main operation started at regular employees of restaurants and shops who were involved in the crime. By using portable skimming devices, they copied a large number of cards belonging to their customers.

After a quick replication process they emptied them, buying all sorts of things, from high-end electronics to designer clothing and accessories, which they later sold online.

“This is by far the largest and certainly amongst the most sophisticated identity-theft credit card fraud cases that any of us have ever seen,” revealed Queens district attorney, Richard A. Brown.

Not only was the scheme cunning as by making so many transactions the money actually laundered itself clean, but they also had a few lawyers involved in their plot which advised them on what to do to evade the law.

It seems as not all the members of the gang were involved in identity theft, some of them preferring more hands-on jobs such as bank heists or stealing power tools from an airport. Seven of them stole almost $1 million (€700,000) in computing equipment from Citigroup in Long Island.

“Credit card fraud and identity theft are two of the fastest growing crimes in the United States, afflicting millions of victims and costing billions of dollars in losses to consumers, businesses and financial institutions.

“Many of the defendants charged today are accused of going on nationwide shopping sprees, staying at five-star hotels, renting luxury automobiles and private jets, and purchasing tens of thousands of dollars worth of high-end electronics and expensive handbags and jewelry with forged credit cards that contained the account information of unsuspecting consumers,” Brown further revealed.

The operation, which spread across three continents, was shut down by law enforcement officials after a long and complex investigation which involved everything in the spy book, from wiretapping to physical surveillance. Not all the suspects were apprehended, some of them still being looked for by the authorities.