TJ Maxx Identity Theft Perp Gets Jail
Irving Escobar, a Miami resident, was sentenced to 5 years in prison and told to repay $600,000 in a $8 million gift card scheme arising from the huge TJX identity theft scam in 2006.
Irving Escobar and several others were charged with using counterfeit credit cards that they manufactured using the stolen data from the TJX breach.
"Authorities believe Escobar and his codefendants acquired the stolen data and used it to re-code the counterfeit credit cards which were then used to purchase the gift cards," according to a statement from the AG's office.
TJX discovered in December that the computer systems that process its customer transactions had been breached and customer information had been stolen. Information stolen from the systems was being used fraudulently in November 2006 in an $8 million gift card scheme, one month before TJX officials said they learned of the breach, Florida law enforcement officials said.
TJX itself has tallied $168 million in losses for the breach, but industry insiders have projected more than $1 billion in costs as a result, a large portion of which is based on the assumption that TJX customers would sharply reduce purchases.