A Vietnamese man helped to steal and sell the personal and financial data of hundreds of thousands of Americans, according to a federal indictment unsealed Friday.
Hieu Minh Ngo, 24, is charged with 15 counts, including wire fraud, identity fraud, access device fraud and conspiracy charges, the Justice Department said in a statement.
The indictment against Ngo was filed under seal in November 2012, and he was arrested in February 2013 while entering the United States, the statement said.
Ngo and others involved in the conspiracy are accused of stealing and offering for sale over the Internet identity packages known as “fullz” that contain a person’s name, date of birth, social security number, bank account number and bank routing number. The conspirators are also accused of stealing payment card data. All told, “fullz” packages for more than 500,000 people were stolen and sold or transferred, according to the indictment.
The indictment says Ngo and the others operated websites that marketed “fullz” for sale. Buyers could obtain a quantity of the packages or search for a specific name to obtain that person’s information, the statement said.
The case was investigated out of New Hampshire because a number of the victims were located in that state, the statement said.