Police from the newPolice Central E-Crime Unit(PCeU)
today arrested nine suspects in connection with money laundering,
computer misuse and conspiracy to defraud using a Trojan aimed at
banks.
The suspects, four women and five men aged between 18 and 30,
were arrested following police raids on addresses in south east
London. Police said the gang, believed to be from Eastern Europe
and former Soviet Union countries, used servers in Europe to spread
the virus, which targeted the financial service industry.
The virus allowed the suspects to steal money from bank accounts
by transfer it to accounts set up and controlled by the gang.
People recruited by the gang then withdrew the cash.
More than 50 officers from the PCeU, local boroughs and
Specialist Crime Directorate operated for the first time as a
"virtual task force". Police said this was "an innovative approach
to tackling e-crime".
The task force was able to share intelligence specifically
connected to the criminal activity to identify, locate and
neutralise the threat, police said.
Detective chief inspector Terry Wilson said members of the
virtual task force had established "a unique open sharing of
intelligence, relating to specific criminal activity".
He said, "The expertise and knowledge-sharing with our
stakeholders in the banking and financial industry has been
combined with conventional policing to create a co-ordinated and
sustained fast response to e-crime and the most up-to-date in
computer forensics."
Deputy assistance commissioner Janet Williams, Acpo lead for
e-crime, said today's raid showed that the long-awaited national
e-crime unit was now up and running.
"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," she said.