Cybercriminals in the UK Convicted for Defrauding Innocent Internauts

Associates of a UK-based crime gang that employed self-penned malware to collect financial information and embezzle millions of pounds, have been barred, after a probe was initiated by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and completed by the National Crime Agency (NCA), as reported by finextra.com on November 12, 2013.

A strong network of six persons struck thousands of unsuspecting people for numerous years posting fake job adverts on sites on behalf of enterprises together with Harrods and Argos such as Gumtree and Blue Arrow.

Individuals' who replied to the commercials were sent URLs via email requesting them to full an online application form and but if the hyperlink was clicked, keylogging virus or malware got downloaded on the victim's computers of the to capture personal as well as financial details and then mail it back to the gangsters.

The National Crime Agency or NCA notes that one of the gangster's, namely, Tyrone Ellis penned the financial malware code and is one of the UK's first-home developed malware developers to be jailed for attacking banks.

However, this is not the only strategy that criminals employed to fill their pockets. Additionally, they employed embezzled details to call-up banks and ask for fresh credit cards and PINs and waited outside the victim's residence to intercept the postman.

They also made money by swindling the urgent cash systems of financial institutions with the help of unlawfully attained security passwords.

One of the group's members Nadine Windley previously was employed at Santander Bank and misused her post to steal account data of customers.

Mobile and Internet chat records indicate that the gangsters made over 300,000 Pounds from their crimes however, Police think this figure could be misleading and more than 1 million pound.

The NCA is now urging public to take steps for protecting personal data while using the computers to create difficulty for criminals to carry out fraud.

Unprotected computers are most vulnerable to infection and can leave data exposed to criminals for exploitation.

Criminals can infect computers in one way be sending attachments with emails and so it is recommended to open attachments only if anti-virus system is able to scan links and attachments. Also files on the Internet should be scanned first for any possible viruses before downloading it.

» SPAMfighter News - 11/18/2013