Seven Are Nabbed in Big PIN Hack Case, with More Arrests Coming

Authorities nabbed seven individuals this week as part of the U.S. Secret Service's newly disclosed Operation Rolling Stone undercover effort against cybercrime and payment card fraud, and more arrests are expected, a Secret Service spokesperson tells Digital Transactions News. Though the Secret Service is being cautious about releasing details of the ongoing investigation, some of the suspects are connected to the breach of PIN-debit card data that has compromised more than half a million accounts and undermined faith in personal identification numbers for card security. “Some of the arrests were linked to recent compromises of debit card customer information and PINs involving a number of retailers and debit card issuers,” the spokesperson says. The seven March 28 arrests bring to 21 the number of people apprehended as part of the broad investigation. The spokesperson, however, would not confirm if the 14 earlier arrests were linked to card-fraud arrests disclosed recently by the Hudson County, N.J., prosecutor's office (Digital Transactions News, March 16). The most recent arrests occurred in Florida, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, California, and Washington, D.C. Authorities also arrested one person in the United Kingdom. The U.S. Attorneys' offices in Nashville, Tenn., and Buffalo, N.Y. as well as the District Attorney's office in Los Angeles, will prosecute the cases, which involve utilization of the Internet to obtain personal information for committing credit card fraud, access-device fraud, and identity theft. The spokesperson would not identify the retailers and banks connected to the card accounts that allegedly were compromised by the suspects. Nor has the Secret Service yet revealed the identities of those arrested. While led by the Secret Service, Operation Rolling Stone is a federal and state effort against cybercrime, the spokesperson says. “It's an ongoing and active operation” with more arrests expected, he says.