ID-Theft Ring May Have “Thousands of Victims”

A bust on an identity theft and phony credit card manufacturing ring resulted in seven arrests Tuesday, Glendale police said.

"We literally could have thousands of victims here. That will result in, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses, but millions of dollars in losses," said Sgt. Tom Lorenz, with the Glendale Police Department.

Authorities served search warrants and made the arrests at nine separate locations after a months-long investigation. But the search continues for three others in connection with the ring, police said.

Firearms, credit  cards, card skimmers and computer equipment were seized during the bust, police said.

In January, officers arrested a man after a traffic stop for possession of re-encoded credit cards. A search warrant was served at a business belonging to the man, and evidence of fake credit card manufacturing was seized, police said.

An investigation was launched, leading up to Tuesday's arrests.

The Los Angeles Police Department, Orange and Los Angeles counties' sheriff's departments, California Attorney General’s Office and Secret Service assisted in the investigation.

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