The scheme racked up more than $10 million, distributed in small charges, on U.S. credit cards. Photo by Colin.

TALLINN — An international scheme that stole more than $10 million (€8.1 million) in unauthorized charges on consumers’ credit and debit cards that ended up in the Baltic states as well as Eastern Europe and Central Asia was halted, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced Monday.

The scheme that was cut off by federal court on request of the Federal Trade Commission, used identity theft to place more than $10 million in bogus charges on consumers’ credit and debit cards. The business of 16 phony companies: API Trade LLC, ARA Auto Parts Trading LLC, Bend Transfer Services LLC, B-Texas European LLC, CBTC LLC, CMG Global LLC, Confident Incorporation, HDPL Trade LLC, Hometown Homebuyers LLC, IAS Group LLC, IHC Trade LLC, MZ Services LLC, New World Enterprizes LLC, Parts Imports LLC, SMI Imports LLC, SVT Services LLC, and one or more persons who are unknown to the agency at this time were charged for making unauthorized charges. Their assets were frozen.

“It was a very patient scam,” Steve Wernikoff, a staff attorney with the FTC who is prosecuting the case told IDG News Service “The people who are behind this are very meticulous.”

The scam had more than a million victims who were charged fees ranging from 20 cents to $10, small enough amounts to go unnoticed by many cardholders.  The group that operated for over four years used phony company names resembling real companies with more than 100 merchant accounts, all processed charges to consumers’ credit and debit card accounts. The money was sent to bank accounts in Central Asia and Eastern Europe including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

The Federal Trade Commission claims that the suspects got 14 money mules outside the country through spam e-mails. However the commission does not know how defendants obtained the stolen identities or consumers’ credit and debit account numbers, as the consumers did not have any contact with the criminals. The agency also does not know the identity of those behind the fake companies.

“We’re going to aggressively seek to identify the ultimate masterminds behind this scheme,” said Wernikoff.

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