Man to pay $1.6m for credit card fraud

Prosecutors have described a Toronto man's massive credit card fraud scheme as high-tech bank robbery - stealing the identities of 38,000 people in order to bilk dozens of banks.

So when he was convicted of mail fraud in February 2011, the federal government began the arduous task of figuring out just how much each victim was owed.

Years later, following the government's petition to the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals, a federal judge ordered Adekunle Adetiloye to pay about $US1.5 million ($A1.6 million) in restitution and forfeiture. Adetiloye is appealing the December 8 judgment.

"To be fair to everybody, the losses in this case are uncommon," Assistant US Attorney Nick Chase said on Thursday.

"It's a hard case in many ways to prove up. There's just not a lot of law out there on any of this. It's a little uncharted."

What isn't clear, Chase said, is whether anyone will see the restitution payments. Adetiloye's lawyer wouldn't comment on his client's financial situation.

Adetiloye's 18-year prison sentence, issued in January 2012, capped a lengthy international investigation into fake debt-collection agencies.

Bank officials, investigators and prosecutors called it one of the most complex schemes perpetrated in the financial industry. It took nearly eight years to investigate and litigate, including the restitution debate.

"There was really nothing about this case that was easy, in terms of understanding it," said Chase.

Investigators said Adetiloye incorporated two different companies that claimed to be debt collection companies.

He gained access to commercial data providers - including large-scale outfits LexisNexis and ChoicePoint that only allow access to law enforcement, financial services and debt collection companies.

Chase said it's hard to predict whether any victims will get paid.

"If we can locate any of this, we are going to try and get the money back," he said.