18 in alleged $200M international credit card scam

NEWARK, N.J. - Federal authorities on Tuesday announced charges against 18 people in an alleged international credit card scam that officials say stole at least $200 million, which would make it one of the biggest ever broken up by the U.S. Justice Department.

Officials say the losses are still being calculated and could grow much higher.

Charges were filed in U.S. District Court Newark against 18 people. By Tuesday morning, 13 of them were in custody.

The scam operated in at least 28 states and millions of dollars were wired to Pakistan, India, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Romania, China and Japan, according to court papers.

The basic charge is that, starting in 2003, perpetrators used 1,800 different addresses to create thousands of false identities, and used those identities to get 25,000 credit cards.