Local & Federal authorities raid Lincoln Park, IL., home and find elaborate fencing operation and "truckloads of high-end, stolen merchandise" worth $100,000. Jicheng Liu, 32, is charged with a felony for his role in the operation, and felony cyber-stalking, authorities said. According to sources, Liu also has cyber-stalked two Chicago police officers who arrested him on a separate case. (Source wgntv.com)

ORC ring of two women busted by Bosie ORC Unit and thousands of dollars worth of stolen loot found in their storage unit. On Tuesday, investigators with the Boise Police Organized Retail Crime Unit obtained a search warrant for a storage unit used by the suspects. Inside the unit they found thousands of dollars in stolen items that included high-end bedding and perfumes, kitchen appliances, and women and children's clothing. Prior to their arrest last month, police had been investigating the two women since last December in connection with other theft cases in the area. The suspects, Jennifer R. Morgan, 27, and Renee D. Cable, 47, are each charged with two counts of burglary and one count of grand theft. (Source ktvb.com)


Wisconsin bill lowering felony threshold from $2,500 to $500 reported yesterday in the Daily also includes ORC provisions. The bill also includes if the value of merchandise is less than $500, a suspect could be guilty of a felony charge if the suspect "agrees or combines with another to commit the violation," and the suspect "intends to sell the merchandise by means of the Internet." And goes one step further and requires people selling certain items— the list includes baby food, cosmetics, drugs, infant formula, razor blades, and batteries—at flea markets to have proof that the person owns the merchandise. (Source securitydirectornews.com)

Washington state man & Romanian skimming gang leader pleads guilty to ATM skimming that cost banks and retailers more than $300,000. Last September, federal investigators seized card skimmers, fake ATM face plates, gift cards and electronic encoding equipment during a raid of Ismail Sali's home and found $10,000 in cash. The home, shared by Sali and co-conspirator Eugen Tirca, a Romanian citizen, connected all the fraud dots to Sali. They also found documents tying him to other suspects already arrested and convicted for skimming activity. Most of the money went overseas to associates in Romania. The Seattle case is a prime example of international skimming scams that are taking advantage of banking institutions and customers across the U.S. Attacks on payments systems have exploded in the past two years, U.S. Secret Service agent Erik Rasmussen says, whose card fraud investigations within the Cyber Intelligence Section of the Secret Service's Criminal Investigative Division stem back to 2004. The common connection among these attacks: international crime rings, which are increasingly profiting from card compromises, whether through skimming or backend attacks. (Source bankinfosecurity.com)