Six indicted over $10m Ingram Micro fraud

Main suspect alleged to have hacked into online ordering system

A Romanian and five Americans have been indicted by a federal grand jury accused of conspiring to steal more than $10m in computer equipment from Ingram Micro in Santa Ana, California.

The indictment alleges that Calin Mateias, 24, of Bucharest, hacked into Ingram Micro's online ordering system and placed fraudulent orders for computers and computer equipment.

According to the indictment, Mateias began hacking into Ingram Micro's online ordering system in 1999, bypassing security checks to pose as legitimate customers and order computer equipment destined for Romania.

When Ingram Micro blocked all shipments to the eastern European country in early 1999, Mateias allegedly recruited five US citizens from internet chat rooms to provide him with US addresses to use as 'mail drops' for the fraudulently ordered equipment.

The American defendants were said to have either sold the equipment and sent the proceeds to Mateias, or repackaged the goods for shipment to Romania.

Mateias and his co-conspirators allegedly fraudulently ordered more than $10m in computer equipment from Ingram Micro. Ingram Micro said it was successful in intercepting nearly half the orders before the items were shipped.

All six defendants are charged with conspiring to commit mail fraud by causing Ingram Micro to ship computer equipment based on the false pretenses that the equipment was ordered by legitimate customers.

This investigation was handled by the Cyber Crimes Squad in the Los Angeles Field Office of the FBI, which received assistance from the Romanian National Police and the FBI Legal Attache Office in Bucharest.

The five defendants in the US will be ordered to appear in US District Court in Los Angeles for arraignment later this month. The US Justice Department said it is working closely with Romanian authorities to ensure that Mateias is brought to justice, whether in Romania or the US.