Six Indicted for E-Greeting Phishing Scams

Six men have been charged with participation in an Internet phishing scam that used e-mail and phony Internet greeting cards to steal credit card numbers, bank account numbers and other personal information from AOL users, the U.S. Department of Justice announced last week.

The men are accused of sending fake greeting cards to AOL e-mail addresses, often purporting to come from legitimate e-greeting sites such as Hallmark.com or BlueMountain.com. In fact ,the cards downloaded software that prevented AOL users from logging on to the network later.

Users would instead receive notices saying that "due to a central server meltdown, your credit card information was lost. In order to enjoy your AOL experience and keep your account active, you must enter your credit card information within 24 hours."

The alleged scam took place over a period of two years beginning in 2004 and may have defrauded thousands of Internet users, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office for the District of Connecticut. The Justice Department office said the bulk of the victims were on the AOL network but that others may also have been defrauded.

The six men were actually indicted on fraud charges 10 days ago, but the charges were not made public until three of them pleaded guilty. Those three could receive two and a half to nine years in prison and are scheduled for sentencing in mid-December. The other three indicted are still awaiting arraignment.