Eleven Charged in Retail Credit Theft Ring

BOSTON — Federal investigators have brought a range of criminal charges against 11 individuals allegedly involved in the computer hacking of nine major retailers and the theft and sale of more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers. The scheme is believed to be the largest hacking and identity-theft case ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice. An indictment handed down here Tuesday charged the defendants with hacking into wireless networks of retailers including BJ’s Wholesale Club, TJX Cos., OfficeMax, Boston Market, Barnes & Noble, The Sports Authority, Forever 21 and DSW, installing “sniffer” programs to identify credit card numbers, then selling the numbers to criminals in the U.S. and Eastern Europe. Three of the defendants, including Albert “Segvec” Gonzalez of Miami, are U.S. citizens, authorities said. Others charged are from Estonia, Ukraine, China and Belarus. Gonzalez was previously arrested on access device fraud charges and had been working as a confidential informant to the U.S. Secret Service when authorities discovered he was criminally involved in the case.

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