SAN DIEGO MAN ARRESTED AS PART OF TWO-YEAR FBI UNDERCOVER "CARDING" OPERATION TO STOP CYBER-CRIMES

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June 27, 2012 (San Diego) -- Pursuant to a federal arrest warrant issued out of the Southern District of New York, Mark Caparelli, aka, "Cubby" was arrested yesterday morning in San Diego by FBI Agents. The arrest was one of 24 arrests made in eight countries as part of a two-year international cyber crime takedown operation. Caparelli was booked into the Metropolitan Correctional Center. The undercover “carding” sting protected over 400,000 potential cyber-crime victims and prevented over $205 million in losses, according to a press release issued by the FBI. 

In summary, it is alleged that Mark Caparelli, a/k/a “Cubby,” engaged in a so-called “Apple call-in” scheme in which he used stolen credit cards and social engineering skills to fraudulently obtain replacement products from Apple Inc., which he then resold for profit. 

The scheme involved Caparelli obtaining serial numbers of Apple products he had not bought. He would then call Apple with the serial number, claim the product was defective, arrange for a replacement product to be sent to an address he designated, and give Apple a stolen credit card number to charge if he failed to return the purportedly defective product. Caparelli sold and shipped four iPhone 4 cell phones that he had stolen through the Apple call-in scheme to an individual whom he believed to be a fellow-carder, but who, in fact, was an undercover FBI agent, said special agent Darrell Foxworth with the San Diego FBI.


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