The U.S. Secret Service arrested four Florida residents for allegedly taking part in an organized fraud syndicate that bought hundreds of thousands of credit-card numbers from groups on the Internet, created counterfeit credit cards from the stolen information, and used the fraudulent credit to rack up more than $75 million in purchases, the law enforcement agency announced on Monday.

The arrests stem from evidence gathered in an earlier investigation, in which another Florida man, 30-year-old Julio Lopez, and his girlfriend, 26-year-old Anett Villar, were charged with trafficking in counterfeit credit cards and identification documents. The investigation into Lopez turned up evidence that a group of Cuban nationals had created an organized fraud ring in Florida, the U.S. Secret Service said in a statement sent to SecurityFocus.

The four individuals whose arrests were announced on Monday -- Miguel Alegria, 46, of Hialeah, Fla., Raynier Pupo, 22, of Miami, Fla., Ariel Montero, 32, of Aventura, Fla., and Javier Padron-Bravo, 35, of Aventura, Fla. -- allegedly sent significant amounts of money to cybercriminals in Eastern Europe using E-Gold accounts in return for tens of thousands of stolen credit-card numbers. The stolen information was then used to create fraudulent cards in counterfeiting factories throughout southern Florida, the Secret Service stated.

In June, the Secret Service announced that investigations into online credit-card trading scheme netting a number of arrests in Canada and France. Florida law enforcement officials had arrested alleged members of a fraud ring earlier this year on suspicion of using credit-card numbers stolen from retail giant TJX Companies to create counterfeit credit cards which were used to purchase valid gift cards at a number of retailers.

The four Cuban nationals, who operated in South Florida, have been charged with aggravated identity theft, counterfeit credit card trafficking, and conspiracy.

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