Friday 21st June, 2013

Three UK men have been handed heavy prison sentences for their part in a large scale phishing scam which gave them access to the details of around 30,000 bank customers from all over the world. The gang set up false sites mimicking genuine banking websites and encouraged customers to input their details which the gang members then used to steal money.

The Met Police's Central e-Crime Unit caught all three men in the act of their deception while staying at a luxury London hotel. As well as the 30,000 bank customers, the gang had scooped over 70m email adresses. The Financial Fraud Bureau estimates that around £60m worth of fraud was saved by the convictions in the UK alone.

The three were sentenced to between eight and five years each.