U.S. Secret Service’s Operations Lead to Arrests of Cyber Fraudsters

The U.S. Secret Service ran two operations after which officials arrested French and Canadian citizens accused of stealing usernames and passwords and carrying out unlawful carding activity, according to the federal agency. SecurityFocus published this in news on June 27, 2007.

Under the operation 'Lord Kaisersose', the Miami office of the Secret Service identified a person known on the Internet as 'Lord Kaisersose' that allegedly compromised 28,000 accounts and used the data to commit a fraud worth $14 Million.

On June 12, 2007, with the support of the Secret Service's information, the French National Police arrested four people charging them with online fraud. The agency said this in a statement published by PCworld.com on June 25, 2007.

Under another operation named 'Operation Hard Drive', the Secret Service said that it held two suspects who engaged in illegal activity of selling credit cards out of France and Canada. The French National Police arrested a man alias 'THEEEEL' on charges of selling credit card information to facilitate ID theft.

Most investigations on cyber crime have had an international angle. A probe into unauthorized electronic funds transfer via E-Gold service became complex because the company registration is at Nevis, West Indies, although its assets are wholly established in Florida. FBI's 'Operation Cardkeeper' - an investigation into the illegal marketing of credit card numbers referred to as "carding" - resulted in arrest of three people in U.S. and 13 in Poland in 2006.

Technology has always been changing the process of conducting trade, practically diminishing geographic borders, said Michael Stenger, assistant director to the U.S. Secret Service Office of Investigations in a statement. Since such advances keep making an impact on the financial crimes the agency investigates, so it relies on international partnerships for sharing information and resources; considering that to be the most appropriate way to fight these kinds of crimes, Stenger elaborated, as reported by SecurityFocus on June 27, 2007.

The U.S. Secret Service is working to build a course of study for the National Computer Forensics Institute in Hoover, Alabama that would educate both U.S. and international law enforcement employees to fight against cyber crime.

Related article: U.S. Businesses Lose $712 Per Worker Due to Spam

» SPAMfighter News - 7/10/2007