Hacker 'stole 130m card numbers'

Credit cards (Source: Reuters)

A federal grand jury has indicted Albert Gonzales, of Miami, Fla., for allegedly hacking into computers belonging to retail and financial companies and stealing over 130 million credit and debit cards.

Officials say it is the biggest case of identity theft in American history.

The Department of Justice said that Gonzales, 28, and two unnamed Russian co-conspirators hacked into the payment systems of retailers, including the 7-Eleven chain.

Gonzales was known online by the nicknames "segvec," "soupnazi" and "j4guar17."

Prosecutors say they aimed to sell the data on. If convicted, Gonzales faces up to 20 years in jail for wire fraud and five years for conspiracy.

He would also have to pay a fine of $250,000 for each of the two charges.

According to the indictment, the group researched the credit and debit card systems used by their victims, attacked their networks and then transfered the data to computer servers they operated in California, Illinois, Latvia, the Netherlands and Ukraine.

Earlier in May last year, Gonzales was indicted in New York, and in Massachusetts in August, 2008, for alleged involvement in the theft of over 40 million credit and debit cards from other companies including TJX Companies, BJ's Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Boston Market, Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority, Forever 21, DSW and the Dave & Buster's restaurant chain.

He has pleaded not guilty to those charges.