US man \'stole 130m card numbers\'

US prosecutors have charged a man with stealing data relating to 130 million credit and debit cards, according to a report on www.news.bbc.co.uk.



Officials say it is the biggest case of identity theft in American history.



They say Albert Gonzalez, 28, and two un-named Russian co-conspirators hacked into the payment systems of retailers, including the 7/11 chain.



Prosecutors say they aimed to sell the data. If convicted, Mr. Gonzalez faces up to 20 years in jail for wire fraud and five years for conspiracy.



He would also have to pay a fine of $250,000 (£150,000) for each of the two charges.



Mr. Gonzalez used a technique known as an \"SQL injection attack\" to access the databases and steal information, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) said.



The method is believed to involve exploiting errors in programming to access data.



Mr. Gonzalez, who had once been an informant for the US Secret Service helping to track hackers, is already in custody on separate charges of hacking into the computer systems of a national restaurant chain and eight major retailers, including TJ Maxx, involving the theft of data related to 40 million credit cards.



Mr. Gonzales is scheduled to go on trial for these charges in 2010.