The federal government wasn't kidding about cracking down on Internet crime. In an anticipated announcement, the Justice Department said August 26 that federal authorities have busted at least 103 suspects and filed 117 criminal complaints since June 1, including hacking, software piracy, and phishing.
The cases – part of what Justice calls Operation Web Snare – are said to have included a California case involving satellite equipment sellers Orbit Communications' chief executive, Jay Echouafni, and five others tied to him, accused of launching denial of service attacks against competitors.
Echouafni was indicted last week on conspiracy and causing damage to protected computers, Justice said, a case accusing him and a partner of hiring Arizona, Louisiana, and Ohio hackers to hit Orbit's online competitors, causing $2 million in estimated revenue losses due to the companies' having to respond to and stop the attacks, which also may have disrupted other Websites including some belonging to the government.
Attorney General John Ashcroft told a midday press conference the arrests and complaints came forth from over 160 cases involving a reported 150,000 victims and estimated losses of $215 million at minimum, while Ashcroft also noted that in 2003 almost ten million Americans were victims of identity theft.
Another of the cases is said to involve a Ukraine man extradited from Cyprus and charged with credit card and wire fraud, in a case involving getting credit and financial information from online chat rooms.
And, Ashcroft also said American and Nigerian authorities were cooperating on one of the best known Internet frauds – the infamous Nigerian e-mail fraud scheme, involving messages promising to give large sums of money, usually from the "estate" of a prominent African family or former government official, in return for advance "fees."
“Operation Web Snare also shows that America’s justice community is seeking to anticipate, out think and adapt to new trends in Internet crime,” Ashcroft told the conference. “This effort shows how effective law enforcement can be against online crime when all levels of government -- domestically and internationally -- work together.”
“The wide range of investigations included in Operation Web Snare reflects law enforcement's commitment to investigating and prosecuting all types of online crimes, from identity theft to computer intrusions, from Internet fraud to intellectual property crimes," said Assistant Attorney General Christopher Wray at the conference. "The Criminal Division and its partners throughout law enforcement remain committed to responding aggressively to online crime, whatever form it may take."
These announcements came a day after the Justice Department announced warrants served and materials seized from five residences and an Internet service provider, in a case involving peer-to-peer group the Underground Network, though no arrests have been made in that case as yet.
Operation Web Snare's first cases involved coordinating 36 U.S. Attorneys' offices around the country, the Justice Department's Criminal Division, 37 FBI field divisions, thirteen Postal Inspection Service field divisions, the Federal Trade Commission, and various other federal, state, local, and foreign law enforcement agencies, Ashcroft said.
