German Police Arrest Phishing Gang
German police have arrested an international phishing gang which allegedly used spam e-mails to unleash Trojans designed to steal bank account details and passwords.
The gang is alleged to have targeted German online banking customers with phishing e-mails claiming to come from firms including Deutsche Telekom, eBay, Wal-Mart and Ikea. Attached to the e-mails were malicious Trojan programs that stole information from the infected computers. Germany's Federal Crime Office says the 18-month police investigation led to arrests in several cities, including Dusseldorf, Cologne and Frankfurt. Among those arrested are Russian, Ukrainian and German citizens. According to press reports, German police are still holding eight of the 10 arrested. The suspects are thought to have used the proceeds of phishing to buy jewelry, cars and holidays. They allegedly used bank accounts opened in false names to transfer the stolen funds from their victimsÆ accounts. "The financial rewards for cybercrime are significant, and we are seeing more organized gangs getting involved in this kind of crime all the time,ö Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at IT security firm Sophos, says in a comment on the arrests. Related Links
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