Softpedia reports FBI announced that 33 bad guys were arrested in the connection with an international phishing gang that operated out of U.S. (California, Nevada and North Carolina) and Egypt.
So far 53 individuals have been charged but the number is expected to rise to 100 in the coming days, as Egypt authorities have identified another 47 suspects.
FBI says that the arrests were made following a lengthy investigation. The phishing gang were aiming at Wells Fargo and Bank Of America, where they were sending out phishing e-mails to Internet users, asking them to visit a (phishing) site to enter their account number and password.
The gang leaders hired “money mules” who would set up new accounts to receive the stolen funds and then cash them out. So far a total amount of 1.5 million dollars have been identified as missing from victims accounts.
Even though the amount of money stolen is less than other cyber crimes committed, the persons arrested in this case is the highest in just one phishing case.
Don’t Get Fooled
The Wild World Web can be a dangerous place now a days – make sure you have a strong password, preferable a combination of letters and numbers, otherwise even a child might be able to crack your password.
Also read: Learn how to avoid phishing & Internet scams.