11 charged in T.J. Maxx card-stealing scheme

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Justice Department charged 11 people with stealing more than 40 million credit- and debit-card numbers from nine retailers including T.J. Maxx, calling it the largest U.S. identity-theft prosecution, Bloomberg News reported.
The defendants tapped the computer networks of TJX Cos.’ Marshalls, BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc., Barnes & Noble Inc. bookstores, Sports Authority, Boston Market Corp., OfficeMax Inc., Dave & Buster’s restaurants, DSW Inc. shoe stores and Forever 21, the federal government said last week.
“This is the single largest and most complex identity theft case that has ever been charged in this country,” Attorney General Michael Mukasey said at news conference in Boston. The indictment “highlights our increasing vulnerability to the theft of personal information.”
The cost of the identity theft scheme to citizens may total billions of dollars, Mukasey said. Some people may not learn they’ve been victims “for months or years,” he added.
Indictments by federal grand juries in Boston and San Diego charged three U.S. residents and defendants from other countries including Estonia, Ukraine and China with identity theft, fraud and conspiracy, the Justice Department said in a statement. &#8226