ID Theft Used Information Originating in Romania

A Sacramento man has been accused for involvement in a credit card fraud over the Internet who victimized 1,000 card holders. The fraud is found to link with two master minds of an international operation based in Romania, said detectives of Place County Sheriff on January 29, 2007. Tien Nguyen, 29 who has an organized gang for his fraudulent activities, is under arrest by the Placer County Sheriff's Department and the U.S. Secret Service.

Detective Jim Hudson described the crime ring in a press conference and how officials tracked down Tien Nguyen. Hudson said Nguyen obtained the stolen information from Romania. The fraudsters there employ pop-up ads to gather information. Hudson said they hardly encountered crimes of this level. They find Nguyen highly computer-savvy who is deft in covering his bases ad tracks.

Detectives said when they went to arrest Nguyen he was printing fake credit cards after downloading information from the Internet.

According to Hudson their investigation might identify thousands of more victims not only at home but overseas as well. The investigation team thinks there could be victims in as distant as England.

Hudson is not sure if the two kingpins in Romania will be caught. The pair uses a phishing scam in which they post pop-up ads and deliver e-mails to millions of Internet surfers. The messages have fake logos resembling real ones that advise recipients to update their bank information or their eBay, PayPal or other accounts. The two suspects then sell off the information as they did to Nguyen.

Nguyen used computer software and a card reader to upload information from a victim's card to motel room cards, gift cards or any type of card with a magnetic strip.

As precaution detectives warn Internet users never to disclose their personal or financial information in response to pop-up ads even if they appear genuine from a bank, credit-card Company or retailers like eBay or PayPal. These messages typically warn the reader that his account is likely to be terminated. To verify such messages recipients should call up at the number they have, not the one in the ad.

Related article: ID Theft Victims Will Double In Next Four Years

» SPAMfighter News - 2/6/2007