More Arrests Made In Online CardsFraud

WASHINGTON - (03/30/06) – The U.S. Secret Serviceannounced the arrests of seven suspects Wednesday in Florida, NewYork, Pennsylvania, California and Washington, and a total of 21overall in the last three months on charges related to onlinecredit card fraud as part of an undercover investigation called‘Operation Rolling Stone.’ Most of those arrested werecharged with using the Internet to illegally obtain personalinformation to commit credit card fraud. Some of those arrested inOperation Rolling Stone have been linked to the recent nationwideof credit/debit card fraud that has caused dozens of credit unionsand banks to cancel and reissue as many as one million cards. Whilethe operation is ongoing and future arrests are planned, theinitial phase of Operation Rolling Stone involves suspectsnationwide as well in Britain, the Secret Service said. The latestrash of card compromises has affected the biggest banks in thecountry, including Citibank, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Bankof America, and many of the biggest credit unions, like The Golden1 CU, Digital FCU, Bethpage FCU and State Employees CU (NorthCarolina). This week’s arrests follows those last month ofmore than 14 suspects in New Jersey charged with stealing millionsof dollars from ATM withdrawals up and down the East Coast usingcounterfeit cards and PINs. More than 40 individuals affiliatedwith the shadowcrew.com ring were arrested last November andDecember and charged with online credit card fraud in a SecretService sting investigation known as Operation Firewall.