The US Justice Department's crackdown on cyber crime has brought to light illegal activities, including credit-card fraud, to the tune of over US $215 million and resulted in dozens of arrests, a senior official said in Washington.
"More than US $215 million worth of Internet crime is under investigation by the US Justice Department, which were unravelled during the Operation Web Snare," Attorney General John Ashcroft said yesterday.
The three-month-long operation has opened around 160 investigations, involving more than 150,000 victims, and dozens of arrests were made, he said.
"America's justice community is dedicated to stop economic crimes before they spread through the online
community," he added.
Internet crime is increasingly internationalised, Ashcroft said. He added that Operation Web Snare has already joined hands with authorities in Romania, Nigeria and other countries to stop crime carried out in the borderless regions of cyberspace.
Authorities fighting the menace also have a new legal tool to use in the prosecution of Internet crime with the enactment of the Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act.