A total of 38 people in the U.S. and Romania have been charged in a phishing scheme to steal thousands of credit and debit card numbers, reports PCWorld.com. The Justice Department says the attacks have connections to organized crime.

Just last week, IT Business Edge blogger Carl Weinschenk wrote about the increasing organization of computer crime. He points out that criminal enterprises are so solid and confident that they act like legitimate businesses.

The DOJ says that one of the phishing attacks by the Romanian organization sent as many as 1.3 million e-mail messages, according to this E-Commerce Times article. The e-mails purported to come from legitimate institutions like Citibank, Capital One and JPMorgan Chase & Co. The Romanians then sent the stolen credit and debit card accounts to U.S. cashiers to record onto the magnetic strips on the back of credit and debit cards.

The members face several charges, including conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, conspiracy in connection with access devices, bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. Taken together, the indictments could result in a maximum prison sentence of 64 years.