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Suspects arrested in AOL scam

County officials in Sacramento, California, have arrested two teenage suspects in an online credit card scheme that affected hundreds of America Online customers.
Written by ZDNet UK, Contributor

The first suspect, a 17-year-old high school student, reportedly sent emails to thousands of America Online subscribers in an effort to dupe them out of their credit card numbers.

The teen sent the emails to the subscribers claiming there was a problem with their accounts, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department. To correct the problem, the teen reportedly directed the subscribers to a fake AOL website, where they were asked to re-enter their credit card numbers.

According to Sgt. Rick Gibson of the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department, one of the people who bought those credit card numbers was 18-year-old Dino Dagdagan of Carson, California. Once Dagdagan had the numbers, he allegedly used them to buy computer equipment, which he then put up for auction on eBay.

Although AOL representatives said they are glad the scammers were caught, an AOL spokesman said on Tuesday that this isn't the first case involving this type of fraud. Because the 17-year-old is a juvenile, he was released to his parents' custody last week. Dagdagan is also free on a $10,000 bond (£6,000 bail).

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