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'Brilliant' Identity Theft Scheme Targets Child Porn Buyers
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ShareJune 15, 2007 10:48 AM
A ring of European cybercriminals has devised an ingenious scheme that steals the credit card information of Internet buyers of child pornography, law enforcement sources say.
Officials call it a "brilliant" system because victims rarely complain for fear of being identified as a child porn purchaser.
Authorities say an ongoing investigation centers around an east European crime ring that operates numerous child pornography Web sites.
When a person attempts to purchase access to the sites, they are directed to a bogus payment processor page and instructed to enter their credit card information, including CVC code and expiration date.
Investigators say the criminal ring uses the credit card information to purchase new child pornography domain names and ISP hosting spaces.
When victims discover the fraud, instead of reporting it to law enforcement, they typically just pay the charge and report the card lost or stolen, officials say.
Targeting international child pornography and cybercrime rings has become a growing priority for U.S. law enforcement.
"Part of our work is to secure our nation's boundaries, and we see making the Internet safe as an important component of that," said Pat Reilly, spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In a recent high-profile case, the leaders of a Belarus-based child pornography and money laundering enterprise were brought to justice after being lured by undercover law enforcement agents to western European countries with extradition treaties with the U.S. The ICE-led investigation resulted in the arrest of more than 1,200 individuals worldwide.
Do you have a tip for Brian Ross and the Investigative Team?
June 15, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (32)
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why didn't i think of this!
Posted by: tev | Jun 15, 2007 7:38:55 PM
Hopefully, someday in the future; torture, and the death penalty will be the consequences of being a pedophile.
Posted by: mike | Jun 15, 2007 10:02:36 PM
This may end up stopping child porn on the internet, a pediphile can't win.
Posted by: pusedo | Jun 17, 2007 9:27:05 AM
Is there a reason (other than ratings) that you are sharing this information publicly? Your "ingenious/brilliant scheme" seems to have been exposed to the public. Do you think that you would catch MORE criminals if you didn't "leak" your information to the press to boost your ratings? SOME criminals in the world are not stupid (they're likely the ones you should watch out for). The Internet is wide open - why would you "spill" this information all over the net in such a way????
Posted by: CSilver | Jun 18, 2007 12:13:55 AM
Csilver - my bet would be that the people being arrested are way down the pecking order in the gangs and the real villans are still living in luxury. The real answer probably lies in improving technology and banking security - something which is possible -witness trials of hardware dongles for internet bank access in the UK - but expensive for the banks. Until the cost of theft exceeds the cost of protection then don't expect much improvement.
Posted by: Kiwijonathan | Jun 18, 2007 7:14:25 AM
Oh, come ON, already. This is more than absurd; it is insulting!
Yeah, secret teams of bombers headed for the US and UK are announced to a room full of potential spies and infiltrators so they can be conveniently reported on to the sheep, I mean the citizens.
Posted by: Jim | Jun 18, 2007 9:44:56 PM
Hmmm! These thieves should be given a job at Interpol/the FBI! Let's sic them on al Quaeda!
Posted by: Valeria | Jun 19, 2007 1:44:15 PM
AMEN to the death penalty for these Child Porn SICKOS
How DARE anyone hurt a child!!
It makes me fumin' mad.
Posted by: TEXAN | Jun 19, 2007 3:24:12 PM
If a pedophile steals someone elses card and uses it, then the wrong person is victimized by this scam.
Posted by: Lisa | Jun 22, 2007 4:49:20 PM
All of the above responses are--to my mind--VERY VINDICTIVE; it's easy to understand why. What is NOT understood is the reason for people's behavior to look at the stuff---whether it be 'kiddie porn' or other. It is indicative to me of a personality that DESPERATELY needs treatment and deep
compassion. I don't hear ONE WORD OF THAT expressed above. Do you want them DEAD??
Posted by: Robert Twynham | Jun 22, 2007 6:44:21 PM
I posted my comment above. The pedophiles without doubt, are people with a psycho-sexual illness. would you kill anyone else in this society of a similar crime? I hope not. To my mind, what's needed is the righting of wrongs, and an enormous amount of COMPASSION and understanding..WHY did this happen--to begin with?? It's an illness.
Posted by: Robert Twynham | Jun 22, 2007 6:55:05 PM
Robert, yes these people probably have an illness, but that in no way excuses their crimes, nor does it mean that compassion and understanding is called for. It's a fact that the majority of sexual child abusers do not benefit from rehabilitation attempts. I'm glad there are people out there like you who are willing to help abusers stop molesting children, but you'll be fighting an almost impossible uphill battle in that regard. The rest of us will just call them what they are - the lowest form of criminal and deserving of extreme punishment.
Posted by: John | Jun 24, 2007 5:53:22 PM
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