June 26, 2009
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News: Man Steals 2 Million CC Numbers
A San Francisco man appeared in a Pittsburgh court and pleaded guilty on wire fraud charges for stealing nearly two million credit card numbers. According to court reports, Max Ray Vision had the card numbers on his home computer and was involved with sharing them with other identity thieves on an online clearinghouse web site. Vision was arrested back in September 2007 when an investigation lead to a raid of his apartment and arrest. An investigation by the U.S. Attorney's office indicated that Vision had hacked into some of the largest credit card institutions in the world including Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover. The charges were brought up against Vision in Pittsburgh as a result of an investigated that was conducted with the cooperation of a Pennsylvania resident. Vision had sold more than 100 credit card numbers and security data to the resident.
According to court documents, Vision allegedly charged over $86 million in fraudulent charges. The clearinghouse web site that shared the stolen card numbers indicated that nearly 4,500 individuals worldwide had accessed the site to trade or buy stolen credit card numbers between the years 2005 and 2007. The public defender told the court that Vision was a "hacker's hacker" which means that he often broke into hackers computers to steal credit card information. He also speculated that for this reason, it is possible that Vision is not responsible for all of the $86 million in losses.
Vision, who legally changed his name from Butler, was described as being cooperative during his hearing. He faces up to 60 years in prison on the credit card and wire fraud charges. During the hearing, his plea bargain details were outlined to the judge in his chambers. The plea agreement remains sealed while Vision is cooperating with an ongoing investigation against an Orange County, California resident Christopher Aragon. Vision is scheduled to be sentenced on October 4th.