Federal authorities say 19 people in Nevada and eight other states have been arrested in a debit and credit card identity theft and trafficking ring that prosecutors allege operated as a racketeering organization based in Las Vegas.

In a statement Friday U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden in Las Vegas characterized the extent of the theft and sale of personal and financial information as "astonishing."

He says 50 people are named in three sealed indictments handed up by a federal grand jury in January and this week.

Prosecutors allege they used an Internet site called "Carder.su" to buy and sell stolen information.

Bogden says federal agents arrested five people Thursday in Las Vegas and 14 more in California, Florida, New York, Georgia, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, and West Virginia.