The Department of Justice has charged 36 people and arrested 13in a takedown of a brazen global cyberfraud ring that bought and sold debit and credit cardinformation, banking and financial data, stolen identities,personal information, malware and other illegalitems. The action marks one of the largest cyberfraud enterpriseprosecutions the DOJ has ever undertaken.

The ring, called “the Infraud Organization,” has allegedlycheated consumers, businesses and financial institutions out ofmore than $530 million and planned to cause more than $2.2 billionin losses. According to the indictment, its alleged goal was to be“the premier destination” for buying fake or stolen card information andother contraband. The federal indictment occurred in Octoberbut was just unsealed on February 7.

The defendants were from five continents and over a dozencountries, including Ukraine, Pakistan, France, Serbia, the UnitedStates, Egypt, Kosovo, Bangladesh, Russia, Moldova, Italy,Australia, Ivory Coast, Canada, the United Kingdom andMacedonia.