Utica College’s Center for Identity Management and Information Protection has published the results of what it is calling "a landmark study of closed U.S. Secret Service cases involving identify theft."

The U.S. Departments of Justice, Treasury and Homeland Security have joined together to issue the "2007 National Money Laundering Strategy, a report detailing continued efforts to dismantle money laundering and terrorist financing networks and bring these criminals to justice."

The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) has announced that the financial services industry, Internet security companies and law enforcement have joined forces to co-host the first Counter eCrime Operations Summit (CeCOS) in San Francisco, California, May 30-31, 2007.

The US Department of Justice has announced that a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. has indicted two companies operating a digital currency business and their owners on charges of money laundering, conspiracy, and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.

In an article titled '13 indicted in NYC for $3 million credit card fraud", Samuel Maull of the Associated Press reports on a group of people indicted for credit card fraud perpetrated by paying restaurant staffers to skim credit card magnetic stripe details.

Andrew Mayeda reports for Canada's Ottawa Citizen about increasing concerns by law enforcement officials about gift cards becoming a hit with crime syndicates - particularly open loop cards. According to Mayeda, "RCMP officers said such cards are now accepted as valid currency between crime syndicates. Instead of a suitcase of cash, operatives might show up for a drug deal with a fistful of gift cards."

CSO Magazine has released the results of the 2006 E-Crime Watch survey, revealing a decline in security events, yet an increase in the financial and operational losses caused by such electronic crime incidents.

KCRA Channel 3 reports from Sacramento that "hundreds of Sacramento and Modesto consumers who shopped at Dollar Tree stores said they later had money stolen from their bank accounts." This story is a follow-up on other stories reported earlier this week. The Sacramento Bee also reported this story yesterday

Business Week takes an in-depth look at some of the "cybercrooks" it says are responsible for "stealing billions" in an article by Spencer E. Ante, Brian Grow, and Roman Olearchyk.

Michael Merritt, Deputy Assistant Director of the Office of Investigations for the United States Secret Service testified yesterday before the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information and International Security of the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs in the US Senate. Merritt's prepared testimony (PDF) described the history of the so-called "Supernotes", high-quality counterfeit U.S. currency (Federal Reserve Notes) and the connections the Secret Service has made between the production and distribution of these counterfeit notes and the government of North Korea.

Robert McMillan of the IDG News Service reports that about 3 percent of all households in the U.S., totaling an estimated 3.6 million families, were affected by some sort of ID theft during the first six months of 2004 according to Department of Justice data from its annual National Crime Victimization Survey.

Robert Lemos reports for SecurityFocus.com on the Secret Service's Operation Rolling Stone that has recently made seven additional arrests related to the earlier debit card fraud incidents.

Mitchell Pacelle reports for the Wall St. Journal on MasterCard's efforts to fight identity theft.

The BBC reported today that police in London have foiled one of the biggest attempted bank thefts in Britain.

The investigation was started last October after it was discovered that computer hackers had gained access to Sumitomo Mitsui bank's computer system in London. They managed to infiltrate the system with keylogging software that would have enabled them to track every button pressed on computer keyboards.

The Guardian also reports the story:

"The rise of keyloggers poses a real threat to companies and this may be the first time we have evidence of organised criminals using the equipment to attack a bank," Alan MacDonagh, managing director of the fraud consultancy Hibis Europe told the Financial Times.

Baseline reports on organized crime activity on the Internet.

Monty Phan reports in Newsday on the sentencing of Philip Cummings to 14 years in prison after he admitted to contributing to the largest case of identity theft in U.S. history.

The US Department of Justice has announced the the arrests of nineteen individuals "who are alleged to have founded, moderated and operated one of the largest illegal online centers for trafficking in stolen identity information and documents, as well as stolen credit and debit card numbers."

The National Geographic Channel will be airing a TV special this Sunday, October 24, at 8 PM ET/PT titled "Inside the U.S. Secret Service".