14 DAY TRIAL // Romanian authorities have arrested nine individuals believed to be part of a phishing gang that used hacked accounts to make bids on fake online auctions.
Prosecutors from the Romanian Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) raided 26 residences in Bucharest and three different counties.
Authorities believe the phishing ring was coordinated from the city of Braila by three individuals named Geani Chirita, Iulian Mocanu and Leonard Constantin Carusu.
In addition to the three leaders, six other alleged members were detained for questioning. Three of them work for companies that handle international money transfers and are accused of helping the gang withdraw stolen funds.
The fraudsters sent phishing emails to numerous users in US, Canada, Australia and Western Europe. The emails masqueraded as official communications from e-commerce and online auction websites and directed recipients to spoofed web pages.
Stolen credentials were used to bid for nonexistent items put up for sale by the fraudsters, allowing them to transfer the money out of the compromised accounts. The damages are estimated at $750,000.
Phishing is a common activity for Romanian cyber criminal groups, but fortunately DIICOT is increasingly cracking down on these operations.
In April last year we reported the arrest of 70 suspected eBay scammers in Romania, while in September DIICOT prosecutors arrested a Romanian accused of stealing $3 million from high value eBay customers.
The crackdown on such gangs in Romania, a country traditionally known as a cyber crime hotbed, comes as a result of increasing cooperation between international law enforcement agencies in such matters.
Just yesterday the FBI announced the dismantling of two scareware distribution rings that caused losses of over $74 million by scamming almost 1 million users. The operation saw the participation of law enforcement agencies from Ukraine, Latvia, Germany, Netherlands, Cyprus, France, Lithuania, Romania, Canada, Sweden, the United Kingdom.
Watch a video of the DIICOT raids during this latest operation: