14 DAY TRIAL // A Georgia man who used to be in the business of trafficking stolen credit cards was sentenced to ten years in prison on Friday. His actions are said to have caused losses of $36 million.
Rogelio Hackett, Jr., 26, was arrested in 2009 after being identified as one of the sellers of stolen credit card details on underground forums and IRC chatrooms.
When investigators searched the contents of his computer they found 675,000 credit card details. The fraudulent activity associated with these cards amounted to $36 million.
According to prosecutors, Hackett was not only a carder, but also a hacker who broke into online ticket providers. His preferred attack method was SQL injection.
Hackett was arrested by the Secret Service following a sting which resulted in him selling 40 credit cards to an undercover agent. He pleaded guilty back in April to one count of aggravated identity theft and one of access device fraud.
In addition to using stolen credit card details, Hackett was also accused of earning $80,000 from fraudulently acquired Western Union orders. He used the money earned from his schemes to buy a 2001 BMW X5 and other goods.
The identity thief was sentenced on Friday in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to 120 months imprisonment and was ordered to pay a $100,000 fine.
"Mr. Hackett was in the business of hacking for profit and committed identity theft on a massive scale," commented U.S. Attorney MacBride.
"He was a full-time identity thief who expanded his business worldwide, affecting hundreds of thousands of people, banks and merchants. Today’s sentence and substantial fine should serve as a strong deterrent to others who may be tempted to engage in identity theft," he added.