14 DAY TRIAL // For Operation Cardkeeper, FBI agents have worked with local authorities in Romania, Poland and the US. Their target was a global identity criminal ring who were allegedly selling stolen confidential information via a forum on an Internet website remained undisclosed. The sensitive information involved identity, credit card and bank account data. The work of in excess of 20 FBI agents was necessary to bring down the international theft ring responsible of a phishing attack against a major financial institution between August and October 2004.
Following the investigation, four American citizens were arrested, with another 13 apprehended in Poland. Search warrants were additionally issued for three Romanian suspects believed to be involved with the phishing ring.
"The suspected ringleader of the gang, a Polish man known as "Blindroot", is said to have hacked into third party computers to rent out webspace to other criminals who wanted to host bogus websites for the purposes of phishing. The American suspects were caught with cards and machines used to encode data onto blank credit cards and when authorities attempted to search the premises, one suspect tried to flush counterfeit credit cards down the toilet," revealed Sophos in a press release.
"The authorities fighting computer crime should be applauded for working together across international boundaries to break up these criminal gangs," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "Phishing and identity theft are global problems, and countries need to work more closely with each other to bring the bad guys to justice. Although the news of these arrests is good news, it's only the tip of the iceberg as there are many other phishers still at large. All computer users should exercise caution over the emails they open, which websites they visit, and who they give their confidential information to as they may find they are falling into a hacker's trap".