International cyber crime ring smashed after more than $530 million stolen - CNN

International cyber crime ring smashed after more than $530 million stolen

CNN Digital Expansion 2017. Ben Westcott

By Ben Westcott, CNN

Updated 0709 GMT (1509 HKT) February 8, 2018

Hackers from the Infraud Organization are accused of trying to steal billions of dollars worth of goods and services by US authorities

Hackers from the Infraud Organization are accused of trying to steal billions of dollars worth of goods and services by US authorities

(CNN)US authorities have indicted 36 people for stealing more than $530 million from victims across the world in one of the "largest cyberfraud enterprises ever prosecuted."

In a statement, US investigators claimed the accused were taking part in a massive operation known as the Infraud Organization, which stole and then sold other people's personal information, including credit card and banking information.

"Today's indictment and arrests mark one of the largest cyberfraud enterprise prosecutions ever undertaken by the US Department of Justice," Acting Assistant US Attorney General John Cronan said in a statement.

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Cronan said it was believed the group had intended to cause losses totaling more than $2.2 billion during their seven years of operation.

Authorities have already arrested 13 people from a range of countries including the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, France and Italy.

The Infraud Organization has been in operation since October 2010, according to the statement from the US Justice Department, when it was launched by a 34-year-old Ukrainian man Svyatoslav Bondarenko.

He had wanted to grow the organization into the internet's largest "carding" group -- that is, a criminal group who buy retail purchases with counterfeit or stolen credit card information.

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Their motto was, "In Fraud We Trust."

According to the Justice Department statement, there were 10,901 registered members of the Infraud Organization as of March 2017, who were divided into specific roles.

They ranged from the "administrators" who oversaw the organization's strategic planning and approved membership, all the way down to the "members" who used the Infraud forum to facilitate their criminal activities.

Law enforcement agencies from across the world collaborated on the investigation into Infraud, including Italy, Australia, the United Kingdom, France and Luxembourg, among many others.