New York authorities say they've charged 111 individuals,including financial institution workers, in a massive identitytheft and fraudulent credit card scheme that robbed financialinstitutions, retailers and consumers of more than $13 million overa 16-month period.

The defendants, comprising five organized crime rings based inQueens County, New York with ties to Europe, Asia, Africa and theMiddle East, allegedly stole account information via card skimming devices in financial institutions, restaurantsand stores.

They then produced counterfeit credit cards, which they used tomake high-end purchases such as luxury hotel stays, private jetrentals and designer merchandise that they later re-sold to thepublic. Authorities charged the defendants in 10 indictments,culminating a two-year investigation known as “OperationSwiper.”

In an Oct. 7 announcement made by the Queens County DistrictAttorney's Office, District Attorney Richard A. Brown calls theindictments the “largest identity theft takedown in U.S.history.”

“This is by far the largest – and certainly among the mostsophisticated – identity theft/credit card fraud cases that lawenforcement has come across,” Brown said. “Credit card fraud andidentity theft are two of the fastest-growing crimes in the UnitedStates, afflicting millions of victims and costing billions ofdollars in losses to consumers, businesses and financialinstitutions.

“Even after the culprits are caught and prosecuted, theirvictims are still faced with the difficult task of having to repairtheir credit ratings and financial reputations. In some cases, thatprocess can take years.”

Defendants in the scheme also allegedly obtained accountinformation through illegal websites and from unknown individualsoverseas. They produced counterfeit credit cards by re-encodingaccount information onto the magnetic strips of blank credit cardswith “reverse” skimming devices and writing or embossing accountand security numbers onto cards, authorities said.

In some cases, criminals allegedly placed financial institutionartwork and logos onto the cards and created fake government-issuedIDs to match cardholder names.

Aiding in the scheme, authorities said, were employees of storesand banks, who stole account numbers and identified high-valuevictims while in their workplaces. Some defendants allegedly calledfinancial institutions and retailers while posing as cardholders tocheck the availability of credit.

Authorities said 86 of the defendants are in custody whilepolice are still searching for the other 25. The DistrictAttorney's Office said nearly two dozen of the defendants have alsobeen charged in connection with several Queens County burglariesand robberies.

In late September, a group of Romanian nationals were arrestedin connection with a skimming scheme across several Westernstates.