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Three Indians, including two people hailing from Chennai, were on Monday charged with hacking into online brokerage accounts in the United States to pump up value of their shares.
The indictment unsealed on Monday charged Jaisankar Marimuthu, Chokalingam Ramanathan (both from Chennai) and Thirugnanam Ramanathan, an Indian residing in Malaysia, on a number of charges, including conspiracy to commit computer fraud, securities fraud and identity theft.
The multi-million dollar high-tech scheme in which the three are alleged to have participated has been called a 'pump and dump' scheme by Justice Department officials.
They were a part of a fraudulent scheme that hacked online brokerage accounts in the US to pump of the value of shares, which were then sold for a profit, officials said.
A statement issued by the department speaks of two of the three being arrested in Asia and waiting to be extradited to a Federal Court in Omaha, Nebraska. This is said to be the first arrests overseas having to do with an online brokerage intrusion scheme perpetrated in the United States.
"These new forms of high-tech identity and securities fraud pose serious risks to investors and brokerage firms across the globe," Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher said.
"The case demonstrates our commitment to aggressively investigate and prosecute these schemes wherever they originate. I commend the investigators and prosecutors in this case for their tremendous cooperation and speedy action to track the source of this scheme halfway around the world," he added.
It is said that at least 60 customers and nine brokerage firms have been victimised. One brokerage firm reported losses as high as more than two million dollars.
A 23-count indictment, returned in January 2007 and unsealed on Monday, charged the duo from Chennai with one count of conspiracy, eight counts of computer fraud, six counts of wire fraud, two counts of securities fraud, and six counts of aggravated identity theft.
Ramanathan, was charged with one count of conspiracy, two counts of computer fraud, and two counts of aggravated identity theft.
Related to the Justice Department's action the Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a civil complaint against all three defendants in federal court in Nebraska seeking restitution and civil fines.
According to the indictment, the three, operating mainly from Thailand and India, perpetrated the scheme and used their personal online brokerage accounts to purchase shares of several thinly traded stocks.
They then hacked into online brokerage accounts of others using stolen usernames and passwords and made scores of unauthorized purchases of the same stocks to drive up the market price. And when once the prices were inflated artificially the defendants sold their own shares for a substantial profit.