Worldwide sweep on Internet crime
Worldwide sweep on Internet crime
Following a three month investigation into crimes, including disabling web sites, over 100 people have been arrested in what is considered to be the biggest worldwide crack down on identity theft, hacking and Internet related crime.
The U.S. based Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service stated that the crackdown is planned to deter hackers and build confidence for users who want to trust the Internet.
"Operation Web Snare" incorporated 150,000 victims who lost over US$215 million in crimes that also included the reselling of co-workers' Social Security numbers.
53 people had already been convicted through this operation. This operation reveals the amount of hard work being drilled into combating crime, although it is a small drop in the ocean compared to the amount of actual crime that is happening around the world.
But different countries are uniting together more and more to track down the criminals. Law enforcement officials from Romania, Nigeria and Cyprus all worked together to find people involved with fraudulent auctions, trafficking in stolen credit card numbers as well as many other crimes.
160 investigations have been opened and 117 complaints, indictments and other court papers have been filed.
A recent case involved a man who stole almost US$800,000 over the Internet by carrying out more than 5,000 fraudulent sales via eBay.
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