Pair Busted at Mexico Border May Be Tied to Target Hack

When two people with some 90 fake credit cards were arrested trying to enter the US, authorities reported a link to the hack of Target stores—but the story has gotten more muddled. A South Texas police chief said the two Mexicans, Daniel Dominguez Guardiola and Mary Carmen Vaquera Garcia, had customer data from the Target hack. Later, however, a federal source to the AP said the arrests and the hack weren't related. Now, the truth is unclear, the AP notes.

What is known: Police in McAllen, Texas, have been working with federal officials on the case ever since local fraudulent purchases were made in the area last week. According to police chief Victor Rodriguez, those purchases were linked to the hack. Using "miles of video" from retailers, authorities tracked down Guardiola, 28, and Garcia, 27, Rodriguez says. A police lieutenant tells the Los Angeles Times that federal charges are likely for the pair, who come from Monterrey, Mexico. "It's not that we find criminals like this through cyber-forensics. We get them in the real world when they do something stupid," notes a cybersecurity expert. "Getting credit cards is easy. Turning it into cash is hard." (More Mexico stories.)