shady online underworld

Investigators looking into a vast international credit card theft ring extending from Ukraine and Belarus to China and victimizing nine of the largest U.S. retailers faced a central mystery: Who was orchestrating the crimes on the ground in the United States?

It turned out, investigators now say, that he was right under their noses. And it was a reference to a character in the popular U.S. comedy "Seinfeld" -- the Soup Nazi -- that helped break the case.