Mary Carmen Garcia Vaquera and Daniel Guardiola Dominguez of Monterrey, Mexico, were arrested Jan. 19 by federal and local authorities in connection with the Target data breach that hacked hundreds of millions of shoppers' credit cards late last year.
The investigation began Jan. 12 when fraudulent activity with losses in the tens of thousands of dollars were reported to the McAllen, Texas, police department at local Best Buy, Toys 'R' Us, Walmart, and other stores, Police Chief Rodriguez said Monday.
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Teaming up with U.S. Homeland Security, McAllen PD was able to quickly link last week's fraud reports to the huge Target data breach that occurred late last year.
McAllen PD, Homeland Security, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) linked the alleged perpetrators' car to a vehicle crossing the Mexico-Texas border around the time of the fraudulent card activity.
They matched the car's passengers with persons seen in those stores at the time of the theft.
The alleged fraudsters were busted with 112 stolen credit cards in their possession, police said.
