5 charged in global credit card hacking scheme
NEW YORK -- Four Russian nationals and a Ukrainian have been charged for running one of the largest global credit card hacking operations ever. Authorities say they stole more than 160 million credit and debit card numbers from 2005 to 2012.
The five men reportedly hacked into the computer networks of more than a dozen major American and international companies. They include, JC Penny, Wet Seal, 7-Eleven, Nasdaq, Jetblue, and Visa.
According to the New Jersey U.S. Attorney's Office, they took the card numbers, user names and passwords and sold the information resulting in losses of hundreds of millions of dollars.
The hackers used anonymous web-hosting services to hide their identities.