FBI arrested 24 people in massive hacking sting

US law enforcement have arrested 24 suspected hackers in a sting operation spanning four continents that targeted online financial fraud of stolen credit card and bank information. The two-year investigation, in which FBI agents posed as hackers on internet forums, prevented more than $205 million in losses on over 411,000 compromised consumer credit and debit cards, US authorities in New York said. Eleven people were arrested in the United States and 13 others arrested overseas, in seven different countries, the prosecutors' statement added. Six people were arrested in Britain, two in Bosnia, and one each in Bulgaria, Norway and Germany on charges in those countries. All of the detained are men ranging in age from 18 to 25. Some face 40 years in prison if convicted on fraud-related charges, according to the (BBC). One of the men, Mir Islam, known online as "JoshTheGod", was charged with trafficking in 50,000 stolen credit card numbers. Joshua Hicks, also known as "OxideDox," was charged with one count of access device fraud. In total, investigators notified credit card providers of more than 400,000 compromised accounts. The sting focused around an online forum called Carder Profit, set up by the FBI in June 2010, where users could exchange stolen account and card numbers. Investigators identified alleged cybercriminals in the US, Europe, Asia and Australia. US district attorney Preet Bharara said in a statetment: "Clever computer criminals operating behind the supposed veil of the internet are still subject to the long arm of the law." The report from the two US firms said the attacks tried to steal between $75 million and $2.5 billion (60 million to two billion euros) from at least 60 banks worldwide.