Explore the latest news and trends  

Sign up for our weekly security newsletter


Be the first to receive important updates on security





Send

14 Romanians Face Indictment over Involvement in Online Phishing Scam

US Attorney David B Fein for the Connecticut District along with Special Agent Kimberly K Mertz handling FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) lately declared an indictment holding 14 Romanian nationals responsible for committing conspiracy, deceit as well as ID-theft crimes in connection with a widespread online phishing scam, published 7thspace.com during the 4th-week of December 2011.

It has been assumed, as per the indictment against the defendants that at least one of them, during June 2005, spammed an electronic mail to people, among whom one was an inhabitant of Madison, Connecticut. Apparently, the e-mail posed as a message from People's Bank based in Connecticut which told the recipient that his access to the Internet banking facility had been deactivated while to reactivate it, he must follow a given web-link connecting with a site on which he should type in required information. The site seemingly, happened to be of People's Bank, however, its real host was certain PC that had been compromised and which wasn't associated with the bank.

Moreover, it's further assumed that numerous e-mails were shared amongst the defendants, which carried debit/credit card numbers, their CVV codes and expiration date, PIN numbers along with more private details like names, birth-dates, phone numbers, addresses and Social Security Numbers (SSNs).

Following this, the defendants apparently utilized the information for acquiring admission into bank and credit accounts for stealing funds, which they frequently did from Romania-located ATMs.

Additionally, officials stated that alongside People's Bank, the cyber-gang attacked companies and financial institutions such as Wells Fargo & Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co., PayPal, eBay, Bank of America, Citibank, Comercia Bank, Capital One, U.S. Bank, LaSalle Bank and Regions Bank.

The prosecution of the accused that's scheduled to start in March 2012 can result in punishing each of them with a 30-yr jail along with a monetary penalty of a maximum of $1m, incase proved guilty.

Meanwhile, in a similar instance during the 2nd-week of December 2011, U.S officials indicted 4 Romanians for hacking personal computers of over 200 enterprises, in particular aiming attack on checkout and point-of-sale systems for pilfering details of credit cards.

Related article: “Loopholes did not cause online banking thefts”: ICBC

» SPAMfighter News - 1/9/2012

3 simple steps to update drivers on your Windows PCSlow PC? Optimize your Slow PC with SLOW-PCfighter!Email Cluttered with Spam? Free Spam Filter!

Dear Reader

We are happy to see you are reading our IT Security News.

We do believe, that the foundation for a good work environment starts with fast, secure and high performing computers. If you agree, then you should take a look at our Business Solutions to Spam Filter & Antivirus for even the latest version of Exchange Servers - your colleagues will appreciate it!

Go back to previous page
Next