Hackers had stolen bank and credit card information, as well as other personal information from secured websites. This practice is known as "carding."
The sting started in June 2010, when undercover FBI investigators set up their own website where they planned to discover and locate cyber criminals in order to stop their fraudulent activities.
Undercover investigators found that they could easily contact the hackers through online forums, and the hackers would exchange personal, credit card, and bank information that they obtained through the secure websites, and sell them to the undercover FBI agents.
Little did the defendants know that these "cyber criminal forums" were not as exclusive as they thought, and that they could easily be tracked with just their IP addresses.
The complaint filed against the defendants specifically names them, as well as their online names (i.e., one who went be the name of "OxieDox"), and states which information the undercover agents were able to obtain from the hackers.
Thanks to the sting, over 400,000 potential victims were protected. In addition, about $205 million was prevented from being stolen by the hackers.
Eleven arrests were made in the United States, including New York, Florida, and California. Thirteen arrests in various other countries, including Italy, United Kingdom, Bosnia, Norway, and others.
This FBI sting is not only an eye-opener for the two dozen online hackers who were caught and are now defendants in the case, but also for those of us who share information online every day.
As if you probably haven't heard it enough, let this FBI enforcement effort be a reminder: It is extremely important to be cautious of where all of your information, especially personal and financial information, is being shared on the Internet.
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