Rabu, 27 Juni 2012

FBI arrests six British 'hackers' in 'biggest ever' undercover sting into global online fraud

FBI arrests six British 'hackers' in 'biggest ever' undercover sting into global online fraud

  • They were among 24 people arrested across the world
  • 'Operation Card Shop' described as 'biggest of its kind' to be launched against financial cyber-crooks
  • They are accused of masterminding a global black market in 'carding' schemes
  • 11 people were arrested in US, while others were held in 12 other countries including Norway, Italy and Japan
  • The sting is believed to have saved over £131 million in illegal transactions

By Matt Blake

PUBLISHED: 05:33 EST, 27 June 2012 | UPDATED: 14:04 EST, 27 June 2012


The FBI has arrested six suspected British hackers accused of masterminding a global network of online fraudsters trading in stolen bank and credit card information.

They were among 24 suspects snared yesterday following a painstaking two-year undercover sting spanning four continents, described as the biggest of its kind against financial cyber-crooks.

'Operation Card Shop' targeted 'sophisticated, highly organised' criminals, involved in selling stolen identities, credit cards, fake documents and sophisticated hacking software, the FBI said.

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Swoop: The Brits were among 24 suspects held across four continents following a two-year undercover operation described as the biggest of its kind to be launched against financial cybercriminals

Swoop: The Brits were among 24 suspects held across four continents following a two-year undercover operation described as the biggest of its kind to be launched against financial cybercriminals

The international gang is believed to have raked in millions of pounds though online scams and black-market trading.

Agents said the sting began in June 2010, when the FBI established an undercover 'carding forum', that mimicked those operated by criminals to buy and sell information.

Agents reeled the crooks in through the fake website, called 'Carder Profit', with which they hoodwinked their targets into believing they were on the hunt for stolen information.

Instead, they eavesdropped on discussion threads and private messages, and tracked genuine thieves through their IP addresses after they logged on.

Credit card fraud: The arrests came after undercover FBI investigators set up a bogus website where fraudsters involved in carding schemes could buy and sell stolen information and programmes

Credit card fraud: The arrests came after undercover FBI investigators set up a bogus website where fraudsters involved in carding schemes could buy and sell stolen information and programmes

Authorities from 30 different countries are believed to have been involved in the operation.

Agents were also able to notify the credit card providers of more than 411,000 compromised credit and debit cards, and 47 companies, government entities, and educational institutions that their networks had been breached.

SNARED: HOW THE FBI REELED THE CROOKS IN

Agents reeled the crooks in through the fake website, called 'Carder Profit', which they used to hoodwink their targets into believing they were on the hunt for stolen information.

The sting began in June 2010, when the FBI established an undercover 'carding forum', that mimicked those operated by criminals to buy and sell information.

Agents reeled the crooks in through the fake website, called 'Carder Profit', which they used to hoodwink their targets into believing they were on the hunt for stolen information.

Instead, they eavesdropped on discussion threads and private messages, and tracked genuine thieves through their IP addresses after they logged on.

Authorities from 30 different countries are believed to have been involved in the operation.

Agents were also able to notify the credit card providers of more than 411,000 compromised credit and debit cards, and 47 companies, government entities, and educational institutions that their networks had been breached.

The alleged fraudsters, operating out of various countries in America, Europe, Asia and Australia, would have pocketed a further £131 million from debit and credit cards had they not been stopped, the FBI said.

A total of 11 people were arrested in the US, while suspects were held in 12 other countries including the UK, Norway, Italy and Japan.

All are accused of buying and selling hacking programs and stolen personal information online.

One of those arrested in America, called Mir Islam, who uses the name 'JoshTheGod', claimed to be a member of UGNazi, a group that has claimed credit for numerous recent online hack attacks.

He was also a founder of Carders.Org, a carding forum on the Internet.

Officials said he had information for more than 50,000 credit cards.

The FBI said it seized the web server for UGNazi.com, and seized the domain name of Carders.org, taking both sites offline.

In a separate development, a security report Tuesday said a wave of cyber attacks has likely stolen at least $80 million from bank accounts in Europe.

Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara said: 'As the cyber threat grows more international, the response must be increasingly global and forceful.

'The coordinated law enforcement actions taken by an unprecedented number of countries around the world demonstrate that hackers and fraudsters cannot count on being able to prowl the internet in anonymity and with impunity, even across national boundaries.

'Clever computer criminals operating behind the supposed veil of the Internet are still subject to the long arm of the law.'

Highly sophisticated fraud ring targets 'high rollers'

Between £48million and £1.6billion has been stolen from bank accounts in a massive cyber bank raid where fraudsters raided dozens of financial institutions around the world.

The ‘highly sophisticated’ ring had bypassed physical chip and pin identification to siphon large amounts from high balance accounts, a study by global security firm McAfee and bank secuity specialist Guardian Analytics found.

More than 60 firms have suffered from wh at it calls an ‘insider level of understanding’.

The report says: ‘With no human participation required, each attack moves quickly and scales neatly.

‘This operation combines an insider level of understanding of banking transaction systems.’

The criminals created a computer code which automatically finds a victim’s highest value account.

It then transfers money to a prepaid debit card which can then be drained quickly and anonymously.

The ‘malware’ is so advanced that it can stay on the victim’s computer to conceal the theft, altering the target’s bank statement.

The report said: ‘If all of the attempted fraud campaigns were as successful as the Netherlands example we describe in this report, the total attempted fraud could be as high as 2billion euro (£1.6bn).’


VIDEO: Mir Islam aka "JoshTheGod" leaves Manhattan Federal Court... 

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So we cant get rid of, or approve the extradition of terrorists and Islamic extremists from this country, yet these guys get the skids put under them. What a joke this country now is.

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Well done the alphabet boys... Keep it up...

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We shall probably see a queue of weeping mums crying about their poor little boys who had asperburgers or something like autism and didn't understand what they did, and the loonie left politocos talking about human rights. They are big time crooks!!!

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We shall probably see a queue of weeping mums crying about their poor little boys who had asperburgers or something like autism and didn't understand what they did, and the loonie left politocos talking about human rights. They are big time crooks!!!

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I wonder if they will all claim to have aspergers and hide behind their mummies.

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so the FBI's great idea to bring in 20 people was to set up a forum called 'carder profit' and copy and paste conversations on a forum. wow two years work and 20 people. only saving 131million. thats actually hilarious. come on guys your the FBI. i could have done that myself.

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It's a shame. These people are clearly very intelligent. They should channel their computer skills into something positive and legitimate. Perhaps working with companies to help them fix flaws in their network security. - Mark, UK, 27/6/2012 12:20 Problem is these guys expect to be paid a hell of a lot more than somebody in India who destroyed the RBS database gets.

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It's a shame. These people are clearly very intelligent. They should channel their computer skills into something positive and legitimate. Perhaps working with companies to help them fix flaws in their network security. - Mark, UK, ..... Brilliant, Mark. If people like this were working for the other side, who exactly would they be protecting the companies against? Regular gamers......?

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Good, now extradite them all to America to face their courts, they certainly wont find their jails so easy as ours are!!!

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I wonder if I'll get less spam now.

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