FBI helps Romanian authorities to catch group of hackers who cloned 0.5 mln credit cards

A group of 16 Romanians involved in IT crime was recently caught and brought in for questioning by the Romanian authorities. They allegedly falsified 500,0000 electronic cards, with an estimated damage of some USD 25 million. Four of them, based in Timisoara, are currently being taken to Bucharest for custody. They are accused of having stolen USD 1 million after breaking websites and stealing credit card data. The FBI and the Australian authorities helped the Romanian Police catch the suspects. They had been transferred card data to fake cards in Austria- called card cloning, with the clones ending up in Australia, where the funds were withdrawn. All the suspects were working at IT companies and using their companies' servers for this scheme. Prosecutors searched 36 homes and offices in Bucharest, Timisoara, Brasov, Galati, Valcea and Ilfov and took suspects to capital Bucharest. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: FBI)