- Younger people, who grew up with the internet, were most likely to fall for the "phishing" scam.
- The gang's site, LabHost, aided criminals in sending messages and directing victims to fake websites.
- The LabHost site generated nearly £1m ($1.25m) in profits.
Officers note that younger people, who grew up with the internet, were the most likely to fall for the "phishing" scam. The technology enabled scammers without technical skills to bombard victims with messages designed to trick them into making payments online.
Police focused on the gang's site, LabHost, which aided criminals in sending the messages and directing victims to fake websites appearing to be legitimate online payment or shopping services.
The criminals had used it to steal identity information, including 480,000 card numbers and 64,000 PIN codes, known in criminal slang as "full data," the police revealed. Detectives do not know the amount of money stolen but estimate that the LabHost site generated nearly £1m ($1.25m) in profits.
Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Dame Lynne Owens stated, "You are more likely to be a victim of fraud than any other crime." "We approach the situation with precision and targeting, maintaining a clear focus on those who enable online fraud to be carried out internationally.
National Economic Crime Centre director Adrian Searle stated, "Technology is enabling crime to be delivered at scale in an almost industrial fashion." LabHost had provided criminals without technical skills the opportunity to "buy them off the shelf online and use them against victims in the UK and elsewhere," he added.
The arrests resulted from a two-year operation involving the Metropolitan Police, National Crime Agency, City of London Police, and law enforcement bodies in 17 countries. In the UK, authorities took 24 suspects into custody, making arrests at Luton and Manchester airports.
Worldwide, law enforcement agencies searched 70 properties, resulting in the charging of one British man.
Text messages:
Authorities in the UK believe that 70,000 victims were tricked into providing their details online.Approximately 25,000 victims, who have been identified, will receive text messages warning them about fake online payment services and shopping sites that may have taken their money.
They will be instructed to visit a Metropolitan Police website for guidance. Their cases have been reported to fraud investigators. Officers affirm that their details, found in a dump of data obtained from LabHost, have been "secured."
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