People in Cybersecurity knew a long time ago that card theft and scams were global, but I don’t think it really hits home until you see the list of countries that are involved in this kind of card theft. When the Justice Department announced the arrest of many principals in the Infraud Organization, I had to stop to take note of how many different places these criminals came from. Maybe I need a geography refresher, because I’m not sure I can point to them on a map.
The group was started in the Ukraine in 2010, so some of the members came from there. We all know the Ukraine pretty well. All the other usual suspects are there: Russia, Pakistan, Kosovo, Serbia, Moldova, Bangladesh, and five from all over the USA. Then we have one from France, Italy, Australia, Macedonia, Ivory Coast, Canada, United Kingdom, and Egypt. Then, there is another category even more interesting - not known. Several of the individuals are listed as “AKAs” also known as, and the person’s Internet name - no country, no nothing. They even had Six John Doe’s i.e. people who are being indicted but they don’t yet know who these people are, nor where they reside. These are the ones who are known only by their activities and hide themselves very well on the Internet. We put a stake in the ground and say, “If we ever find you, you will be arrested and brought to trial.” That may seem like a hollow threat to somebody in Russia, but it has happened.
This is a true multinational organization which has been operating for along time. Credit Justice and the FBI which had to coordinate with cooperating police activities in many countries. The list of them is in the indictment and is amazingly long. It takes months to work just one country. The nice thing is they did. Now we have to see how many of them actually get to trial. I would love to be there for that, but it looks like the case is going to be tried in Nevada. Puzzle me that one.
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