A U.S. District Court in Los Angeles has sentenced Nichole Michelle Merzi, a key figure in an international cybercrime ring that between 2008 and 2009 drained thousands of dollars from U.S. bank accounts.

Merzi, who helped to orchestrate an elaborate phishing scheme that involved 53 co-conspirators in the U.S. and 47 in Egypt, on May 15 was sentenced to more than five years in prison. She was convicted last year on charges of bank and wire fraud conspiracy, aggravated identity theft, computer fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy.

A principal figure in the domestic arm of an international “phishing” operation that used spam e-mails and bogus websites to collect personal information used to defraud American banks was sentencing this morning to five years in federal prison.

Nichole Michelle Merzi, 26, of Oceanside, was sentenced in the fraud case by Senior United States District Judge Terry J. Hatter, Jr.

After a six-week trial last year, Merzi was found guilty of bank and wire fraud conspiracy, aggravated identity theft, computer fraud conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy charges.

Mario Darnell Smith pled guilty to charges involving his use of customer information to steal money from bank accounts at U.S. Bank.

According to the facts filed with the court, Jeffrey G. White was employed by U.S. Bank at a branch in St. Louis County. As part of his employment, White had access to customer account information, including account numbers for business accounts and names of persons associated with business accounts. Mario Darnell Smith was a friend and acquaintance of White. In the spring of 2011, Smith and White agreed that ...

Fraud experts are encouraged to see banks joining forces with law enforcement to fight cybercrime. But as online attackers become increasingly organized, financial institutions may find themselves fighting even tougher battles.

The latest win: In Georgia, a man has pleaded guilty for the role he played in a $1.3 million phishing scheme that targeted customers of Chase, Bank of America, ADP and Branch Bank & Trust.

Waya Nwaki today admitted his role in an Internet fraud ring that stole more than $1.3 million after “phishing” confidential account information from Internet users, New Jersey United States Attorney Paul J Fishman announced.

Nwaki, a/k/a “Shawn Conley,” a/k/a “usaprince12k,” 31, of Atlanta, pleaded guilty to one count each of wire fraud conspiracy; wire fraud; aggravated identity theft; and conspiracy to gain unauthorized access to computers—counts one, nine, 14, and 20 of the indictment against him. Nwaki entered his guilty plea before United States District Judge William J Martini in Newark federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court...

A hacker break-in at credit and debit card processor Global Payments Inc. dates back to at least early June 2011, Visa and MasterCard warned in updated alerts sent to card-issuing banks in the past week. The disclosures offer the first additional details about the length of the breach since Global Payments acknowledged the incident on March 30, 2012.

Visa and MasterCard send periodic alerts to card-issuing banks about cards that may need to be re-issued following a security breach at a processor or merchant. Indeed, it was two such alerts — issued within a day of each other in the final week of March — which prompted my reporting that ultimately exposed the incident. Since those initial alerts, Visa and MasterCard have issued at least seven updates, warning of additional compromised cards and pushing the window of vulnerability at Global Payments back further each time.

Three former National Football League players have been arrested by the FBI on federal charges in connection with an alleged scheme to steal people’s identities and file false tax returns in others’ names to collect thousands of dollars in refunds, according to authorities.

The three ex-NFL players charged with defrauding the federal government and ID theft are: William Joseph, a University of Miami defensive tackle drafted in the first round by the New York Giants in 2003; Michael Bennett, a University of Wisconsin running back also drafted in the first round by the Minnesota Vikings in 2001; and Louis Gachelin, a Syracuse University defensive tackle who was drafted by the New England Patriots in 2004.

Joseph and Gachelin are ...

United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker announced that Roger Van Santvoord Camp, 68, pled guilty last week to a six-count indictment charging him with four counts of bank fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1344(2), and two counts of aggravated identity theft, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1028A.

At his arraignment on April 11, 2012, Camp pled not guilty, and the matter proceeded to jury trial before United States District Court Judge Terrence W. Boyle, in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. At the close of the government presenting its case, Camp pled guilty to all six counts of the indictment.

This is what a victim of consumer fraud looks like, and how he lost his money: The scam artist contacted him by email. He stole his identity by tricking the victim into revealing personal information. He managed to get more than $2,000 of the victim's money. The thieves took his money by using his credit card information, buying something over the phone or online, or cleaning out a bank account. The victim is 55 years old, and he is hearing about more and more people who are victims of fraud much like him.

Eric H. Menden, 53, of Chesapeake, Virginia, pled guilty today to engaging in a $41 million bank fraud scheme that contributed to the failure of the Bank of the Commonwealth. He also pled guilty to a separate fraud involving a six-year historic tax credit scheme that cost state and federal governments over $12 million and investors more than $8 million.