U.S. Charges 11 in Theft of TJX Customer Data

BOSTON (Reuters) -The U.S. government charged 11 people on Tuesday with stealing tens ofmillions of credit and debit card numbers from major retailersincluding TJX Cos Inc, in one of the largest reported identity-theftincidents on record.

The U.S. Attorney in Boston said those charged were involved in thetheft of more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers fromretailers that included: BJ’s Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Boston Market,Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority, Forever 21 and DSW Inc.

Framingham, Massachusetts-based TJX, which owns the Marshall’s andTJ Maxx chains, was the hardest hit by the ring, acknowledging in March2007 that information from 45.7 million credit cards was stolen fromits computers.

The charges target three people from the United States, three fromthe Ukraine, two from China, one from Estonia and one from Belarus.

The ring, which authorities said was headed by a Miami man namedAlbert Gonzalez, hacked into the retailers’ computer networks tocapture the numbers, which they then stored on computer servers in theUnited States and Eastern Europe.

They then sold the information to people in the United States andEurope, who used it to withdraw tens of thousands of dollars at a timefrom automated teller machines, authorities said.

"This case clearly shows how strokes on a keyboard with a criminalpurpose can have costly results," Michael Sullivan, U.S. Attorney inBoston, said in a statement. "Consumers, companies and governments fromaround the world must further develop ways to protect our sensitivepersonal and business information."

Gonzalez, who is being held by New York authorities on anothercomputer hacking-related charge, was charged with computer fraud, wirefraud, access-device fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy,authorities said.

He faces life in prison if convicted of all charges.

TJX has agreed to pay more than $60 million to credit-card networksVisa Inc and MasterCard Inc to settle complaints related to theincident, which is one of the largest on record based on the number ofaccounts involved.

(Editing by Mark Porter and Jeffrey Benkoe)