DOJ Has Proposed Amendment To Criminalize Overseas Sale of Stolen U.S. Financial Information
“One of the most common motivations for hacking is the theft of financial information,” the Department of Justice wrote in blog post Friday. It’s now a crime to sell “access devices” such as credit card numbers, and the government can…
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prosecute offenders located outside of the U.S. as long as the card number involved was issued by an American company and the government can prove an “article” used to commit the offense moved through the U.S. or that the criminal held his or her illicit profit in an American bank, DOJ said. These “requirements have proved increasingly unworkable in practice,” Justice said. When digital data is stolen, it’s not clear what “article” could be involved, the DOJ said, which is why it has proposed an amendment to the Personal Data Notification & Protection Act that “would strike the unnecessary language in the current statute.” The proposed amendment would let DOJ “prosecute anyone possessing or trafficking in credit card numbers with intent to defraud if the credit cards were issued by a United States financial institution, regardless of where the possession or trafficking takes place,” Justice said. “This kind of jurisdiction over conduct that occurs abroad is fully consistent with international norms and other criminal laws aimed at protecting Americans from economic harm.”