"Spanish Police Arrest 40 in Phishing Gang Bust"
Spanish police have recently arrested dozens of individuals on suspicion of their involvement in a serious organized crime gang said to have made over $767,000 from phishing victims. Among the 40 apprehended by law enforcers were two hackers and 15 suspected members of the “Trinitarios” group, who were charged with belonging to a criminal organization, bank fraud, document forgery, identity theft, and money laundering. The group was allegedly funded mainly through phishing and bank fraud, used to buy drugs and weapons, pay lawyers’ fees for members in prison, and sent directly to members behind bars. Spanish police stated that the alleged hackers would send SMS phishing messages to victims purporting to come from their bank, alleging a security issue that required them to click on a malicious link. Following the link took the victim to a spoofed banking log-in page where they entered their logins. The hackers monitored these actions in real-time via phishing panels and immediately used the logins to access the real accounts, requesting loans and linking the cards to virtual wallets on their phones. The police noted that the cybercriminals would then purchase cryptocurrency with these card details, which was apparently exchanged with fiat currency and put into a “common box” for later use. The group also monetized the hijacked bank details by directing an extensive money mule network to “cash out” at ATMs or receive funds via bank transfer and additionally made false purchases through fictitious online cosmetics companies via point-of-sale (POS) terminals. The police stated that some of the funds were sent abroad and were even used to purchase real estate in the Dominican Republic. During the operation, 13 house searches were conducted in Madrid, Seville, and Guadalajara, where a list of 300,000 phishing victims was discovered, along with 5000 Euros in cash, computer equipment, and devices for picking locks.
Infosecurity reports: "Spanish Police Arrest 40 in Phishing Gang Bust"