Statement of Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte Markup of H.R. 1584, the CARDER Act

Chairman Goodlatte: The last year has seen a number of high profile cyber-attacks resulting in the theft of millions of personal and financial records about Americans. Large-scale breaches, like last year’s OPM hack, raise significant national security concerns.  Nonetheless, breaches done for financial gain remain the most prolific type of cyber-attacks we face as a nation.  Included in these financial hacks is the theft of credit card numbers of American consumers.  This past Monday was dubbed “Cyber-Monday” as American consumers spent over $3 billion dollars online shopping for the holiday season – purchases made primarily through the use of credit cards. It is, therefore, no surprise that exploiting credit card numbers is a lucrative practice for today’s cyber criminals. In recent years, organized, multinational criminal enterprises have arisen to steal large volumes of credit card numbers and other personally identifiable information.  Middlemen then sell the stolen data to the highest bidder, often using underground “carding” forums.  With a routine search of the Internet, you can find caches of stolen credit card numbers for sale to the highest bidder. That is why I am proud to support H.R. 1584, the CARDER Act. The CARDER Act will make it easier for the Justice Department to prosecute those who traffic in stolen credit card numbers. Under current law, the Justice Department must prove that an “article” used in the offense was moved through the United States or that the criminal is moving the profits of the criminal enterprise to a U.S. bank.  With today’s sophisticated technology, this is a difficult task that is often made even more challenging because the criminal is often acting from overseas. For example, it is difficult to determine whether an “article” used in the offense “moved through the United States” if the only “article” involved in the crime is digital data. These requirements unduly limit the Justice Department’s ability to prosecute criminals residing outside the United States who commit crimes that harm Americans.  Law enforcement agencies have identified foreign-based individuals holding for sale vast quantities of credit card numbers issued by American financial institutions where there is no evidence that the person selling the numbers is the one who stole them, and no evidence of “articles” moving in the United States. The CARDER Act will fix this problem, and give the Justice Department the necessary tools to prosecute those who are profiting from stolen credit card numbers. It will permit the United States to prosecute anyone possessing or trafficking in credit card numbers with intent to defraud, if the credit cards were issued by a United States financial institution, regardless of where the possession or trafficking takes place. This necessary change to the law will allow prosecutors to bring to justice those who victimize American consumers and financial institutions. I am proud to support this bipartisan bill, and want to thank the gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Forbes, and his colleague from Rhode Island, Mr. Langevin, for their work on this legislation.

For more on today’s markup, click here.