A Denver grand jury indicted five defendants last week in an identity theft crime ring. Shadwick Weaver, the ringleader, is in custody and being held on $500,000 bond. Weaver has been indicted on 65 counts. Three of the others indicted by the grand jury are also in custody; a fifth defendant is at large.

During a joint investigation by the economic crimes units of the Aurora Police Department and the Denver District Attorney’s office, detectives discovered almost 300 fraudulent IDs, employee IDs, and counterfeit checks and credit cards.

They also discovered dozens of victims that include merchants and individuals who lost thousands of dollars. The crime ring targeted grocery stores, hotels and liquor stores and used what they called “temporary credit cards”—cards the thieves made that had no magnetic strips. When clerks asked about the unusual cards, Weaver and the others explained they had been issued temporary cards and would then manually enter stolen credit card numbers on the merchants’ credit card keypads.

Investigators have linked the defendants to methamphetamine trafficking, which they believe was funded by the identity thefts. Financial and personal information was obtained by breaking into cars and burglarizing homes and businesses.

Charges against the five include theft, identity theft, forgery and conspiracy to commit theft, conspiracy to commit identity theft, conspiracy to commit forgery and conspiracy to commit computer crime.

LifeLock provides comprehensive identity theft services. Visit their website at LifeLock.com to see why nearly 1.5 million members have chosen LifeLock to protect their identities. Enroll in their award-winning services using LifeLock promo code Defense for the lowest possible price.

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The RSA FraudAction Research Lab announced on Friday it had discovered a digital cache of more than a half million stolen online bank logins, passwords and credit card account numbers, and speculated that a Russian identity theft ring stole the information.

A computer virus called the Sinowal Trojan Horse is to blame for the massive theft, and has been collecting the data since 2006.

The researchers said they are particularly disturbed because of the technical sophistication of the Sinowal Trojan. The virus is programmed to silently take over a user’s computer. It then lurks in the background, watching for the user to access specific websites—banks, credit cards, etc.—and then records and sends that information.

It also has the ability to launch “evil twin” web pages that prompt the user to enter a Social Security number and other identifying information that can then be used to apply for credit cards, mortgages, etc.

LifeLock created eRecon because identities stolen by well organized crimes rings is sold, traded and bought over the Internet. eRecon monitors more than 10,000 websites where identity thieves conduct business, looking for their customers’ Social Security numbers, names, account numbers, etc, indicating their identities have been stolen.

LifeLock immediately notifies the customer if relevant information is detected, and helps them cancel and replace credit cards and bank accounts, and place a freeze on credit files.

LifeLock provides comprehensive identity theft protection to almost 1.5 million customers. Visit LifeLock.com for more information about their award-winning services. Enroll using the LifeLock promo code Defense for 30 days of free service.

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