Leader in TJX Hack Case Sentenced

Boston, The leader of a Florida identity-theft ring that used credit-card numbers stolen in a hack of at least 45 million cards of TJX Cos. retail customers has been sentenced to five years in prison, according to the Associated Press.

Irving Escobar, who pleaded guilty in March, also was ordered Thursday to pay nearly $600,000 in restitution, said Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, whose office prosecuted the case. The 19-year-old Miami man was sentenced in a Florida circuit court in Duval County.

Five others who were accused of playing lesser roles in a ring that used the card data to buy store merchandise also have pleaded guilty in Florida courts. Four were ordered in August to serve probation, and another was deported.

The ring’s members were charged with using information stolen in a theft targeting customers of TJX, the owner of 2,500 discount retail stores worldwide.

The Florida ring is not believed to have hacked into TJX’s computer systems to steal the data. Instead, it used stolen card data that it purchased from others to create counterfeit credit cards.