The suspects made millions by launching phishing attacks

Mar 20, 2012 13:57 GMT  ·  By

A number of eight individuals suspected of running a phishing scam that relied on the infamous Carberp Trojan have been arrested by Russian authorities.

Investigators believe that the men may have illegally earned as much as 1.3 million GBP ($2 million or 1.54 million EUR) by launching phishing attacks, the Inquirer reports.

The inquiry led by the FSB and the Russian Interior Ministry revealed that by using the sophisticated data-stealing Trojan and another piece of malware called RDP-door, the alleged criminals managed to gain access to victims' bank accounts.

In order to ensure that the money trail would be more difficult to follow, they transferred the loot to their own accounts, after which they would withdraw it from ATMs.

Two brothers, considered to be the leaders of the group, have remained under custody, while the other six were placed under house arrest.