(Newser)
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An international crew of hackers who reportedly stole more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers from nine US companies were indicted today in what Attorney General Michael Mukasey is calling "the single largest and most complex identity theft case that's ever charged in this country." The ring grabbed hundreds of millions of dollars, officials told the Boston Globe.
The 11 accused hackers found and broke into unprotected wireless networks used by businesses including OfficeMax, Barnes & Noble and Boston Market, then set up a program that would record financial information. They then sold the card numbers or emptied the accounts of cash through ATMs. The defendants hail from the US, Ukraine, Belarus, China and Estonia.
