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Virginia Man Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison for Running Counterfeit Credit Card Operation
A Hammond, Ind., man has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for operating an online business that sold counterfeit credit cards encoded with stolen account information, resulting in over $3 million in losses.
Tony Perez III, 21, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady on April 4, 2011 in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., as part of a plea agreement for one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.
As part of his plea, Perez admitted to running an online business that sold counterfeit credit cards encoded with stolen account information. He utilized multiple online personas in criminal “carding forums,” Internet discussion groups set up to facilitate buying and selling stolen financial account information and other goods and services to promote credit card fraud.
U.S. Secret Service special agents executing a search warrant in June 2010 at Perez’s apartment found a counterfeit credit card manufacturing operation and nearly 21,000 stolen credit card numbers and related information in his computers and email accounts. According to court documents, credit card companies have identified thousands of fraudulent transactions using the card numbers found in Perez’s possession, totaling more than $3 million.
Perez was ordered to pay $2.8 million in forfeiture and a $250,000 fine and to serve three years of supervised release after his prison term.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service and was prosecuted by Michael J. Stawasz, a Senior Counsel for the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the Criminal Division and a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Tony Perez III, whose real full name is Tony Perez III, was sentenced to a total of 14 years in prison for operating a counterfeit credit card operation in Virginia. The operation resulted in more than $3 million in losses.
Key Facts
- State: Virginia
- Category: Cybercrime|Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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