Meet The Credit Card Theft Culprits

Excellent questions Lynn. I wouldn’t be surprised one bit if they are all illegal. It doesn’t end here either. They could have sold those numbers to many others too. I heard TJX wasn’t coming forward and it was the FL police that blew the whistle. Shame on TJX for not being up front about this.

Is it clear that these people actually stole the credit card data? It was my understanding that they used the data to buy goods, and that it was not necessarily certain that they were the ones who actually stole the data.

Nair Zuleima Alvarez, pictured bottom center, may be married to someone with a Spanish surname, but “Nair Zuleima” is Arabic.

My thoughts exactly! Honestly, you must have read my mind. Should there be any doubt as to why hard-working, law abiding decent citizens want Immigration reform laws. If you are not here legally, albeit Hispanic, Polish, Italian, etc., you should NOT expect the free ride America has been to liberal in providing!

Lynn Wills…
Hello? this happened in Florida, in which case they could all be Cubans. Cubans in the US are generally legal. Comprende?

Me, just read her statement carefully. It appears she didn’t make it past elementary school.

Why would someone that has the knowledge and the means to stole 45 millions credit card info would risk 30 years in jail to defraud $50K?
Doesn’t make sense to me.
If he is so smart to hack in the computer, all he needs to do is to create a small program in his computer to charge $1.00 in each card and make 45 millions in an overseas account. That is more logical

What!?!?! These folks aren’t the ones who cracked (and hacked) the code? Are you saying persons with Spanish (and Arabic names) can’t program!?

Goodness. Who cares, what they are!!! I’m actually surprised they are all hispanic, as this is the first I’ve seen where all the members were Hispanic.

I wonder what they used the money for. Probably to buy transportation to bring all their illegal friends and family members here.

People, this isn’t about race. Most of the really heinous crimes that are committed in this country on a regular basis – pedophiles for example – are southern white men.

I guess it’s time for biometric I.D. implants and retinal eye scans for all…
“Attention all customers, to pay for your groceries, place your right eye into the camera-scan…”

You people laugh at Hispanics, but you need to take a look at yourselves. You (caucasians) are the craziest of all- making bombs, raping your family members & cooking crystal meth.Stupid people are just jealous because you can’t afford to live in Miami.

I can’t believe what I just read from Kathy about being ripped off by one of our own “for a change”, that is the most ignorant and racial comment anyone could possibly make. Obviously you don’t listen to the news very often because last time I did, 99% of crimes in the USA were committed by Americans. Duh…..

I don’t think race is the prime issue. The issue is the stealing of identities of millions. I think we should all be concerned about checking our credit and make sure we’re not victims ourselves. If they are here illegally, they need to be dealt with for that as well. For those of you making this a race issue and throwing your racist attitudes around, you should realize that identity theft is a huge problem in America today. This affects all of us, no matter what the color of your skin may be or where you’re from.

Whether or not they are illegals, or if Bush has made it tough for them to get a job, or whether their Hispanic, Asian, Arabic, or a Martian is besides the point, the point these indiviuals broke the law! No matter what country we’re in we must abide their laws, that includes immigration. Why is that so difficult for people to understand. Seriously people, if I went to Mexico with 1 piece of ammunition on my possesion, I would be thrown in a Mexican prison and wait 6 months for a trial where some corrupt Judge may pass sentence for violating their law and they could care less if I were American. Ask the Dog the Bounty Hunter about Mexican laws you either abide or you pay. That’s the way it should be here.

Are you people for real…it doesnt matter who they are..they broke the law…and to Olga..Are you serious? Hispanics taking over?…. HA! lol…Bush isnt making it hard for hispanics to get jobs…hispanics are making it hard for them to get jobs..i had to start at the bottom…so should everyone else, stop whining. White middle america?…crack heads? i know plenty of hispanics who are drug addicts. what are they called hispanic middle america..chill out..because it will be a could day in hell when hispanics take over

The only thing these postings reveal is the depth of human stupidity.

im sorry, but gaby, you really need to calm down with the “caucasion” remarks..how are you going to say Bush is making it hard for illegals to get jobs? HELLO!! they are ILLEGALS,,,did you bump your head? lol…if hispanics would stop taking our jobs maybe we could afford to live in MIAMI..ignorant.

Oh give it a rest Lynn…Very observant of you to point out the fact they are of Hispanic decent. What difference does it make if they were illegal or not? Either way they still would have done this, and either way tax payers would still have to pay for it. I would bet these people are citizens, most illegal aliens are not working regular office jobs and creating viruses, they are working the dirty jobs most Americans feel they are above. Unfortunately, your sarcasm doesn’t reflect well on us as Americans as either. “these fine upstanding citizens…” Of course they should throw these admittedly guilty people in jail…however, I cannot stand sarcasm…it’s a childish way to make a point. It’s like you can’t make a point without being annoying at the same time. I apologize if this seems like I’m being more critical of my fellow American than of these criminals, however, we need to realize that most illegal citizens are hard working people, not criminals. 95% of all crime in this country is committed by our OWN citizens, so stop acting like illegal aliens are ruining this country. You know what they say about assuming…

It was obvious that they were tortured and had noting to do with it.

hey americans!! lets dig a hole 20 feet deep along the border and use the dirt to rebuild new orleans!!!!!!!!!!!

This is just another clear case as to why our government needs to take swift action NOW to enact laws protecting people who committ crims like these and to protect those who are victims. Were spending so much time and money on the war that were neglecting certain things that are happening here on a daily basis to US citizens. ID theft happened to me and it has taken large amounts of my time and money to resolve a matter that happened due to no fault of my own.

These folks were just doing “The Jobs Americans Won’t Do” – got that Mr. Bush? Oh – and whay are over 30% of CA & Federal Inmates ILLEGALS Mr. Bush?

WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT? A CRIME IS A CRIME AND IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT RACE YOU ARE, BECAUSE IT’S STILL AN ILLEGAL ACT AGAINST THE LAWS OF MAN THAT HAS BEEN PLACED IN THIS NATION AND ANY OTHER NATION OF A GOVERNING LAW FOR ITS PEOPLE. THIS ACT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE ALL OVER WORLD PERIOD.

Pointing put their possible country of origin is absolutely ignorant. Do you have any idea how many legal, upstanding immigrant millionaires are in the US? Immigrants per capita contribute more to the economy than those born here. And forget the rhetoric- hard facts back that up!

It pays to pay in hard cash. I think I will buy more gold now too and maybe a larger wheel barrel to cart it all around in. Yes, that will be the new fashion statement, not your big purse, but your big wheelbarrel. Just say NO to store credit cards, or any credit cards.

These guys are nice people. There not white, so they must not be racist.

I live in El paso, and you are right about needing real immigration laws and building the fence, but these folks are criminals, regardless of race. We unfortunately also need to build more jails to hold these criminals and hire more people to guard them. Until we either create a more moral culture in the U.S. (we are on a gradual decay) and show that there is a punishment for any crime, and that will be enforced, things like this, sadly, will continue to get worse. In 30 years from today (if you are still around) reflect back, and tell me I’m wrong.

Regardless of race, did anyone notice that the three youngest suspects plead guilty and the three oldest suspects plead not quilty? I’d bet our older suspects have had previous run-ins with law enforcement. I have no problem believing the 18 year old male would be capable of hacking in. There’s alot more to this story, and it has less to do with race than with opportunity.

The issue is 1. They are thieves any way you look at it! 2. If they are illegal — anyone ever heard of actually deporting them back to where they came from???
If they are illegal — does this not point out to all Americans that we need to do something to protect our country? People come here illegally, steal from us, get caught, and get to stay??? Am I the only one that thinks that is totally INSANE!!!!!!!!!!

Disgusting crime, regardless of their last names.
Equally disgusting to assume that someone who is ethnic is also illegal. Even moreso to assume that aliens in this country will commit that kind of crime solely based on their staus.
I have quite a few ancestors that would have liked the ancestors of those posters to have just stayed on the boats they came to this land on.
I was born in the US, and some of my ancestors have been here since the 1500s before the pilgrims. Others of them have been here for a few thousand years before that.
There’s a good list of crimes that legal citizens have doled out to those of us that were here first, too.

I say build the fence. Countries like Mexico, for one, have stricter immigration laws and protection that the United States does. It’s laughable (then again, so it Bush).
But that’s not related directly to the issue at hand. The fact of the matter is that these people were able to obtain (directly or indirectly) sensitive credit card information and use it. Your focus should be HOW exactly they got it and how we can prevent incidences like this from happening (for yourselves).
Anyone catch, “To Catch an ID Thief” Tuesday night? It was surely eye-opening. I had no idea that the goods being purchased were being peddled out of the country by sometimes unsuspecting people. My point is that we need to better understand the process and not focus the attention on what color their skin is, because it’s not just people of one color doing it folks.

Their ethnic makeup is irrelevant. The real fear is that we live in an age where technology has made it increasingly easier to conduct identity theft. This problem is becoming more rampant and we need private enterprise to come up with solutions for identity protection.

I think the main issue is escaping all. TJM has the bottom line responsibility and is apparently not stepping up. I shopped at one of their stores during this time period. I called to ask what kind of protection they planned to offer their customers and was told I should subscribe to a credit alert program. I called one and was told the annual fee was $89. I asked TJM if they were going to pay for this and the answer was no. TJM is just as guilty as the criminals arrested. We, the shoppers, are the victims and we could be any race, from any country and nobody cares.

Gaby, although I realize it is very difficult for you to understand I will say it anyway. The median income for an individual in Miami is 25,211. The median family income in Miami is 28,784. The median price of a home in Miami is 248,500.
The median income for an individual in Greenich, Ct. is $99,086. The median family income in Greenich, Ct. is 122,719. The median price of a home in Greenich, Ct. is 781,500. You really should not be on here blogging.
This is not about race.

It’s so disheartening to immediately see racist reactions whenever a Hispanic name or face is mentioned in a crime. Regardless of the fact that there are millions of legal Hispanics in this country, let alone in Florida of all places, people are quick to assume that we are illegal and have no place here. Remember that many Hispanics (including the people pictured above) are primarily comprised of native blood–the people who were here thousands of years before the first Europeans arrived. Also, as many have mentioned, the fact that these were Floridians suggests the high likely-hood that these are Cuban Americans who are here legally (and partly due to US foreign poliy with Cuba.) Think about the name “Florida;” where do you think that comes from?

Who cares what their nationality is! Why are all of you stereo-typing them? Does it really matter? Its stupid of you all to wonder if they were from Cuba or Mexico…who cares! What matters is that they were cought! It makes me laugh that you would waste your time posting about ethnicity and ramble on about Bush. Who said we aren’t smart? – Mexican

what i don’t understand is why people are actually surprised at the blatant and subtle racism expressed in the comments… racism is still alive and well people…

Most of these comments are based on preconceived biases due to race. This basically not only reinforces stereotypes, but also singles out a group of people. This has no longer become a question of crime, but a debate about race. Ignorance has become the foundation of most of these comments. Oh America what would we do without you!

It never fails. People segregate toward their own. The reason to come together is not only based on ethnicity. It could be ideology and common sense. Who is really responsible for this whole mess? With few exceptions, most of you are out of line. God save us all….

To Jim Cologne:
“Nair Zuleima Alvarez, pictured bottom center, may be married to someone with a Spanish surname, but “Nair Zuleima” is Arabic.”
That was a real educated comment…
Perhaps Nair Zuleima sounds arabic to you, but it is commonly used by hispanic families without necessarily having anything to do with Arabs. I don’t know what you were trying to infer here. So what, arabs and hispanics are scheming to take over the world?

I came upon this blog accidently and have to say that I am dismayed at the negativity of the comments. No one stay on task of the issue but basically pointed fingers. Could it be that the time spent typing negative thoughts could have been better spent creatively thinking of ways to make society and humanity better?

Wow This is turned out to be a racial thing! It really is’nt important if they were hispanic or whatever. I think its more important to get to the bottom of this and figure out who’ s information was taken and what TJX intends to do about it. I cant even understand how for 18 months this hidden software went undetected . What were the Techs doing??

It does not matter what race they are. What matters is they broke the lawy. TJ Max IT department should have been aware of what was going on and could have done more than what they apparently did to prevent the 45.7 million credit cards from being stolen. As for what Gaby said about most henious crimes being committed in this country for example pedophiles being southern white men. Let’s take another look at that. I am from the south and I see every single day many pedophiles who live on the west coast, mid west, east coast and up north. Putting that kind of statistic on southern white men is being just as racist as one saying that because these people, who look of hispanic descent are illegals. I am not in any way defending them or saying what they did was right because it wasn’t. All I am saying is the reason our country is like it is today is because people still seem to be stuck with the same 1950-1960′s way of thinking when it comes to color. GROW UP PEOPLE!! What they did was wrong and they should be punished for their crime and america should stop judging people by the color of their skin or what race they are.

It is apparent the ring of thieves was all of hispanic descent. Any chance any of these find upstanding individuals were also illegal aliens?
They could clean cut members of MS 13! MS 13 changed no visible identifying tattoos.

My, my, my! The point here is that a crime was committed-against possibly 45,000 million people-do you all get that? 45 MILLION! It would be safe to assume that more than just caucasions were targeted. If they are illegal, that is besides the point. Whatever role they played it will be determined under our democratic court system and they will be judged. I must say, however, if after they have gone through our judicial system and have paid their price to the US society for their crimes-if they are in fact illegal-DEPORT THEM!

Why so much hatred….towards other people.
I’m cuban and I’m ashamed of the way other hispanic discriminate..
People we share the same planet lets learn to live, accept and respect each other.

ED’S RIGHT!!!!! TIME TO GET THE BORDER FENCE BUILT.

People:
We can’t assume anything about anyone just by their appearances or surnames. For all you know, they could all have been born in the US, which would make them legal, legitimate US citizens. The only thing we know for sure about these six people is that they are criminals. Ethnicity and immigration aren’t the issues here. The issue here is that identity theft has become a huge problem and that the busting of this theft ring is just the teeny, tiny tip of the proverbial iceberg.
P.S. Think you know what a “Hispanic” looks like? Alexis Bledel (Gilmore Girls)and Fergie (from the Black Eyed Peas, whose real name is Stacy Ferguson) are both beautiful women, but would you know just by looks that both of them are of Mexican origin ? Just goes to show, don’t assume you know someone, you could be in for a surpise.

April: There must be something wrong with me because Miami (and the the entire state of Florida) is the LAST place I’d want to live. As for the people who can afford to live in Miami, how many are receiving government assistance?

First of all, a Spanish surname does not mean a person is an immigrant nor illegal, for that matter. My grandparents, my parents, and I were born in the US and have Spanish surnames. In case you didn’t notice, your surname is probably not American. In fact, what makes an American last name? The last time I looked around, the last names of everyone I know were carried over from England, Ireland, Scotland, Brazil, China, India, and many others. Stereotyping a person because of the color of their skin, their last name, or their origin reveals more about your own insecurities and lack of humanity than it does about their shortcomings. If these people are criminals, then convict them as thieves. Leave their ethnicities and citizenship status out of it.

Wow – a lot of real emotions out there. I have but one question for the U.S. government; why have we not built a wall on our Northern and Southern borders ? There is no doubt that we have been, and continue to be invaded, drugs and all.
Thank you Mr. Bush, for our “security !”

I don’t even want to comment on all the Hispanic references I have been reading..it’s not even worth the comment.
If you read the article, it states that the people who were arrested are not the “masterminds” who hacked into the TJX Corporation computer system, they just the recipients of the card information.
I have stated before, I work in a financial institution that was hit pretty hard by this compromise. Fradulent activity has also taken place in New York, New Jersey, Texas, and some other states as a result of this compromise. The difference is these people were caught red handed. I’m sure there is going to be more to come as the investigation continues. Remember, this happened over a period of a year and a half.
And the TJX Corporation is not the only merchant that has had large compromises over the last few years. BJ’s Wholesale Warehouse, DSW Shoe Warehouse, for example, had compromises a few years ago. This is becoming a trend.
The smart thing to do is to be vigilant about checking your account and to report any suspicious activity on your account immediately to your financial institution and law enforcement.
Until merchants are going to be held responsible for the type of information they store in their computer systems, then this is not going to stop.

Cool!!! Good job.