Millions Lost in Web Scam That Targeted PayPal, eBay

Two foreign exchange students from Vietnam

are accused of being mules for an international identity theft ring believed to

have stolen millions of dollars from online merchants, according to an

affidavit filed by federal investigators in Minnesota

district court.

The Dec. 29 affidavit sought a search warrant to raid the home of two

Vietnamese exchange students attending Minnesota’s

Winona State

University. During the resulting

raid, federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and

Customs Enforcement unit seized documents and computer equipment, according to

the Minnesota

Star Tribune.

The Department

of Homeland Security affidavit, signed by Daniel Schwarz, claimed the students,

Tram Vo and Khoi Van, were money transfer mules and made more than $1.2 million

using eBay to sell products purchased with stolen credit card numbers. The

affidavit laid out the case for wire fraud, identity theft and money laundering

against the students, who have not yet been formally charged, according to

public records. The third person living at the house, Vinh Dong, was not named

as part of the cyber-crime ring.

DHS’ Cyber Crimes Center was already investigating the “underground

economy” involving criminal rings based in Vietnam that were committing

Internet financial fraud, said Schwarz. The amount of money stolen in this

criminal enterprise is “estimated to exceed hundreds of millions of

dollars,” Schwarz said in the filing.

For more, read the eWeek article: PayPal, eBay Targeted in Web Theft Scam That Stole Millions.