Credit Card Fraud

A 28-year-old Bulgarian man, nicknamed the Hacker, was jailed for 4 1/2 years for draining more than $1 million from bank cards, mostly owned by U.S. citizens. Issa Mehmed also was ordered to pay back the stolen funds and pay a fine. Mehmed pleaded guilty in the city of Varna to charges of founding an organized crime group for money laundering, financial fraud and extortion. The District Court said the crimes were committed from June 2003 until January 2008, when he and his gang were arrested.

An Irvine lawyer convicted last year of conspiracy and securities fraud in a scheme that bilked investors out of tens of millions of dollars pleaded not guilty Monday to new charges of credit card fraud and forgery. Jeanne M. Rowzee is accused of fraudulently applying for credit cards in her children's names and adding herself to the accounts as a second cardholder.

A husband and wife living in a San Diego County hotel have been arrested on suspicion of committing a string of wallet and purse snatchings believed to have netted at least $1 million in fraudulent credit card purchases since 1994. Robin Marc Smith, 49, and Dorothy Ann Smith, 57, were arrested about 2 p.m. Thursday after undercover police officers watched them steal a woman's wallet from a purse at a Mission Viejo business, officials said.

A Harbor/UCLA Medical Center employee arrested on suspicion of illegally using the credit card of a patient is now being investigated for allegedly removing two privacy-protected registration forms from the hospital and taking them home. The forms were discovered by the California Highway Patrol, which was conducting a search of the employee's home after his arrest Saturday for the alleged credit card fraud, authorities said.

A man who used the Internet alias Iceman stole credit card and identity information from tens of thousands of people by hacking into the computers of financial institutions and credit card processing centers, federal authorities said Tuesday. Max Ray Butler, 35, of San Francisco was indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on three counts of wire fraud and two counts of transferring stolen identity information. He could face as many as 40 years in prison and a $1.

sacramento -- Stanley Greene of Orange was at his home computer, making a mortgage payment, when he noticed an unfamiliar $300 debit from the couple's checking account. Merrilee, his wife, said she knew nothing about the purchase. "While we were talking, it happened again," she recalled. "Another debit came through on the computer and another and another one. . . . Our checking account was compromised. They drained all of our funds . . . in a matter of days."

IF you are one of the millions of Americans heading overseas this summer, you may find confusion rather than acceptance when you try to use your credit card. And it will be up to you to set recalcitrant clerks straight. The confusion stems from mandates by governments to card issuers (including American Express, MasterCard and Visa, both credit and debit cards) in foreign countries to adopt the "smart card," also known as "chip and PIN" technology, for credit cards issued in that country.

Here's an economic indicator we could all live without: Incidents of identity theft and credit card fraud are apparently on the rise as bad economic times bring out the worst in some people. And you can add me to the list of folk who've been victimized. All my cash and credit cards and my driver's license were stolen last week. Within an hour of the theft, bogus purchases were being made or attempted at Best Buy, Target and Toys R Us locations throughout the area.

About 1,500 people who bought tickets from Alaska or Horizon airlines have been notified their credit cards were misused. Alaska Air says a call center employee diverted some payments to a personal account.

State and federal authorities said they arrested nearly two dozen people, many with ties to Eastern Europe, in a credit card fraud and identity theft scheme that cost Las Vegas businesses and consumers about $1.5 million. Greg Brower, U.S. attorney for Nevada, said 13 people were arrested on federal charges Monday in southern Nevada and Los Angeles. Las Vegas police said 10 were arrested on state charges, including forgery, credit card fraud and weapons and drug possession.