14 DAY TRIAL // Two 31-year-old men, a 24-year-old woman and a 27-year-old woman have been arrested by law enforcement in the United Kingdom on suspicion of being involved in a massive cyber heist in which around £1 million ($1.64 million / €1.19 million) has been stolen from the customers of UK banks.
Authorities say the crooks sent potential victims a piece of “complex malware” via emails apparently coming from financial institutions. The malicious program helped them gain access to bank accounts and transfer money into a series of other accounts.
The stolen money was laundered and withdrawn as cash. The number of affected banks and individuals has not been specified.
Detectives from the Metropolitan Police Service’s Cyber Crime Unit and agents from the National Crime Agency executed search warrants on December 10. Computers, smartphones and other devices have been seized and will undergo forensic examination.
In addition, a Range Rover, various luxury goods and £80,000 ($130,000 / €95,000) in cash have been confiscated by investigators.
The women have been released on bail, but the men are still in custody.
“These arrests by the Met’s Cyber Crime Unit follow an investigation into what we suspect is an international and organised crime targeting a number of bank customers in London and across the UK,” T/DCI Jason Tunn of the MPCCU commented.
“The victims have been hoodwinked by malware-carrying emails purporting to be from their banks, and subsequently had money taken from their accounts. The Met’s Cyber Crime Unit is determined to protect people and businesses in London from cyber crime, which can see businesses ruined and people’s hard-earned money taken from them in a second,” he added.
“We are working closely the banking industry to achieve that. We will also seek to restrain and seize criminal profits where possible, in order to remove the financial benefit of online crime from cyber criminals.”