An undercover investigation led by the US Secret Service has led
to the arrests of 28 individuals across seven countries. Charges
include identity theft, computer fraud, credit card fraud and
conspiracy.29 Oct 2004
"Led by the Secret Service Newark Field Office, investigators from nearly 30 domestic and foreign Secret Service offices and their global law enforcement counterparts have prevented potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in loss to the financial and hi-tech communities," said Secret Service Director W. Ralph Basham.
He said the suspects targeted the personal and financial information of individuals as well as "the confidential and proprietary information of companies engaged in e-commerce."
The Secret Service says that the suspects, in what it calls Operation Firewall, collectively trafficked at least 1.7 million stolen credit card numbers and financial institutions have approximated their actual losses associated with the suspects in the investigation to be more than $4.3 million.