Trojan virus steals ₤600,000
(18 November 2009 – UK) A group arrested in April, that used a Trojan computer virus to steal £600,000 from British bank accounts, have been sentenced to 13 years in prison as authorities crack down on bank fraud.
The criminals all pleaded guilty to the alleged crimes at the Southwark Crown Court.
The court was told how the gang’s victims would unknowingly download the Trojan, which would then stay dormant until they logged onto their online bank accounts.
Once logged on the Trojan would send a message to a server which would request a page be inserted into the customers online session, this page mirrored the design of the victims NatWest bank, encouraging them to enter personal data.
Once the information was retrieved by the group they would then create a new payee without the customer’s knowledge and later the same day a third party would access the account and transfer the available funds to a dump account.
The extremely well organised operation would then see the stolen cash withdrawn over the counter at various branches using ‘money mules’.
The money was then sent back to Eastern Europe and Russian via money transfer bureaus.
Janet Williams, assistant commissioner, Association of Chief Police Officers, lead for e-crime, said that the sentencing sends a clear message to those who use cyber crime to target UK victims.
Ms Williams highlighted that due to effective partnerships with the financial industry the association has successfully closed down an international criminal network and reduced the financial harm to institutions and thousands of UK victims by millions of pounds.
The court was told how the gang’s victims would unknowingly download the Trojan, which would then stay dormant until they logged onto their online bank accounts.
Once logged on the Trojan would send a message to a server which would request a page be inserted into the customers online session, this page mirrored the design of the victims NatWest bank, encouraging them to enter personal data.
Once the information was retrieved by the group they would then create a new payee without the customer’s knowledge and later the same day a third party would access the account and transfer the available funds to a dump account.
The extremely well organised operation would then see the stolen cash withdrawn over the counter at various branches using ‘money mules’.
The money was then sent back to Eastern Europe and Russian via money transfer bureaus.
Janet Williams, assistant commissioner, Association of Chief Police Officers, lead for e-crime, said that the sentencing sends a clear message to those who use cyber crime to target UK victims.
Ms Williams highlighted that due to effective partnerships with the financial industry the association has successfully closed down an international criminal network and reduced the financial harm to institutions and thousands of UK victims by millions of pounds.
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