Officials yesterday broke up a 27-person crime ring operating out of Brooklyn that police say made over $1 million buying and selling Apple products with bogus credit card numbers.
The group, which called themselves “S3,” would purchase real names and credit card account numbers off the Web for $5 to $10 from overseas data trackers. They would then create fake credit cards with the stolen identities.
Others in the ring would pose as shoppers and enter the stores armed with the fake cards, and buy thousands of dollars in iPods, MacBooks, iPads, and gift cards, which they would then resell on the street for cash.
The ring hit Apple stores nationwide, including all four in Manhattan.
Shaheed Bilal, 28, was the leader of the ring and he ran it out of his jail cell at Rikers, say police.
“This case demonstrates the dangers of organized computer crime,” said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance.
