14 DAY TRIAL // UK's new division of cybercops, the Police Central e-crime Unit (PCeU), has marked its first successful operation by arresting a gang of nine London-based Eastern Europeans, who compromised computers at various financial institutions and siphoned money from their customers' accounts.
On Wednesday, the police descended at several locations in South East London and arrested nine suspects, four women and five men. The individuals, aged between 18 and 30, were charged with computer misuse, money laundering and conspiracy to defraud. All of them are believed to be citizens of countries in Eastern Europe.
The gang operated by distributing a banking Trojan that targeted financial institutions. Once the malware found its way onto secure computers, banking details were being stolen and used to transfer funds to accounts under their control. "Money mules" were being subsequently hired to withdraw the cash.
According to Computer Weekly, the operation brought together officers from the PCeU and the Specialist Crime Directorate (SCD) of the London Metropolitan Police Service. This joint effort, which involved an open sharing of specific intelligence, was described as "an innovative approach to tackling e-crime."
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Janet Williams, the Association of Chief Police Officers' lead on e-crime, noted that, "There is a great deal of expertise within the PCeU and the lessons from today's operation will be shared across the other 42 police forces to ensure we can co-ordinate cross-force initiatives to crack down on online offences."
Ms. Williams previously criticized the Home Office decision to only allocate £3.5m for the PCeU during the next three years. The Scotland Yard-based unit is also set to receive a £3.9m additional funding over the same period of time from the Metro Police budget.
The Police Central e-crime Unit of the Metropolitan Police is composed of 50 investigators specializing in electronic crimes. This division is supposed to take on the responsibilities of the former National Hi-Tech Crime Unit, whose disbandment in 2006 was criticized by many professionals working in the IT security industry. The unit closely collaborates with the National Fraud Reporting Centre.
"It's good to see the authorities showing little patience for this kind of cybercrime, which appears to be on the rise. However, one has to wonder how often money is stolen from bank accounts without the villains ever being identified? Banks may feel the issue has gone away when their out-of-pocket customer's account is refunded – but is that really solving the true problem?," Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at anti-virus vendor Sophos, writes.