New E-crime Force Arrested Nine Suspected of Using Banking Trojan

UK's new PCeU (Police Central E-Crime Unit) detained nine individuals on April 8, 2009, suspecting them to be involved in computer misuse, money laundering and conspiracy to cheat with a Trojan horse targeted against financial institutions and banks.

The suspects, including five men and four women in the age group of 18-30 years, were held after police raided certain places in South East London. The police revealed that the gang had its origin in former Soviet Union and Eastern European countries. Police also disclosed that the gang used computer servers that were located in Europe to spread the Trojan that attacked the financial sector.

This Trojan enabled the alleged criminals to commit bank account theft as they transferred money to other accounts created and controlled by the gang. The gang also recruited several people as 'money mules' who unknowingly withdrew the funds on its behalf and trapped in illegal operations.

The reports highlight that over 50 officers belonging to the PCeU, the Specialist Crime Directorate and local boroughs teamed up like never before to operate as an "effective task force". The police said that the approach was essentially an innovative one to deal with e-crime.

Moreover, Terry Wilson, Detective Chief Inspector, said that the task force members had set up a distinct intelligence for open sharing to deal with specific criminal operations, as reported by ComputerWeekly on April 8, 2009.

Wilson also said the knowledge and expertise sharing with those having a stake in the financial and banking sector has been combined with the traditional practices of policing to establish a fast e-crime response. The response would also include the latest computer forensics approach.

Besides this, Janet Williams, Deputy Assistance Commissioner, Acpo head for e-crime, stated that the raid on April 8, 2009 indicated that the country level e-crime division that was long awaited had eventually become active and operational, as reported by ComputerWeekly on April 8, 2009.

Janet added that there was immense expertise in the PCeU while the lessons that the April 8, 2009 operation produced would be shared with the remaining 42 police troops to make sure the related units coordinated cross-force endeavors to bust future online crimes.

Related article: New Zealand Releases Code To Reduce Spam

» SPAMfighter News - 4/13/2009