MOSCOW, November 29 (RIA Novosti) - Sixteen people including an international wrestling champion have been arrested in Australia’s biggest-ever credit card scam, officials said on Thursday.
Romania-based computer hackers gained access to 100 retail outlets in Australia, from which they stole data from 500,000 Australian credit cards, according to the police investigation.
The criminals used 30,000 of the cards for fraudulent transactions amounting to more than $30 million, the Australian Bankers' Association said on Thursday in a statement.
A Romanian court has sanctioned the arrest of seven of the 16 arrested in connection with the case. Gheorghe Ignat, a mixed martial arts and Greco-Roman Heavyweight Wrestling champion of Romania nicknamed the Carpathian Bear, was among those arrested, the Australian reported.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) cooperated with banks and law enforcements in 13 other countries during the investigation which has been running since June 2011.
“This is the largest data breach investigation ever undertaken by Australian law enforcement,” AFP’s Manager for Cyber Crime Operations, Commander Glen McEwen was quoted as saying.
