Feds Bust Website That Catered to Identity Thieves

Dan Goodin writes on The Register:

Federal prosecutors have brought felony charges against an Eastern European man for running a website that allegedly helped thousands of criminals exploit stolen financial information.

In an indictment unsealed Monday, prosecutors in Manhattan charged Dmitry M. Naskovets with creating and running CallService.biz. The online business supplied identity thieves with English- and German-speaking individuals to call financial institutions and pose as authorized account holders. They would then confirm fraudulent withdrawals, transfers, and other transactions.

CallService.biz, which brazenly advertised its services on other websites, assisted more than 2,000 identity thieves carry out more than 5,000 instances of fraud, prosecutors alleged. The website was founded in June 2007 and remained in operation until earlier this month.

The service was designed to counteract security measures put in place by financial institutions to prevent account fraud. In exchange for a fee, the website took online orders that allowed identity thieves to enter instructions about the fraudulent transaction to be conducted over the phone. The website would then assign the job to an individual who spoke the appropriate language.

More here.