Ukrainian phishing ring busted
Spanish authorities arrest 40 members of the Trinitarios group
Ukrainian cyber authorities apprehended members of a phishing ring responsible for stealing over £3 million/160 million Ukrainian hryvnia from over one thousand victims spread across Poland, Spain, France, Portugal, Czechia, and other European nations. Joint raids were conducted on over 30 locations, resulting in the seizing of computer equipment, mobile phones, and numerous SIM cards used as part of numerous phishing campaigns. The perpetrators of these campaigns created over 100 different phishing sites to trick victims into thinking they could purchase cheap goods, upon which the scammers would then use the payment card details for further fraudulent campaigns. In addition to the phishing sites themselves, the group employed scammers in call centres based in Lviv and Vinnytsia for the purposes of adding legitimacy to the fake online stores through talking to victims and encouraging them to complete purchases. This operation was conducted in collaboration with authorities from Czechia and resulted in two arrests made within Ukraine, as well as 10 more in undisclosed countries in Europe. The suspected leaders face charges on fraud and creating criminal organisations and could face up to 12 years in jail if successfully prosecuted.
Authorities in Spain arrested 40 members of the notorious Trinitarios crime group in May.
The group was responsible for carrying out numerous fraud campaigns, facilitated by initial phishing and smishing attacks with which they gained banking and payment card details of victims, used to generate approximately €700,000 from over 300,000 victims. Some of the proceeds were used to pay the legal fee of members who were already incarcerated, bought drugs for resale, as well as to purchase property in the Dominican Republic. 13 homes located across Spain in Madrid, Seville, and Guadalajara, were raided as part of the campaign to arrest the gang members, resulting in the seizure of computer equipment and cash, as well as tools for conventional crimes such as lock picks. Amongst the 40 individuals arrested, there are thought to be two hackers who were primarily responsible for carrying out phishing and smishing attacks, as well as 15 others who are charged with crimes such as bank fraud and identity theft, typical crimes resulting from falling victim to a phishing attack. This case shows how the gap between cybercrime and conventional crime is narrowing as the two fields merge.
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