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FBI Shares Info About Record-Setting Phishing Case
Doug Caverly
Staff Writer
2009-10-08
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
Synchronicity strikes again. Yesterday, just as the hubbub over the Hotmail- and phishing-related password dump started to subside, the FBI announced that 100 people have been targeted by law enforcement as part of a global investigation it calls Operation Phish Phry.
 | | FBI Shares Info About Record-Setting Phishing Case |  |
It's important to note that this move doesn't represent some sort of amazingly fast investigation and crackdown; Operation Phish Phry was launched in 2007, not in response to this week's previous top security story, and there's no reason to believe any of the FBI's targets were involved in the password dump.
Still, security experts will have trouble finding fault with the end result.
American authorities arrested 33 of 53 people named in an indictment. Egyptian authorities apparently charged another 47. Together, this makes for the largest number of individuals ever charged in a cyber crime case.
The FBI also said in an official statement, "Operation Phish Phry marks the first joint cyber investigation between Egyptian law enforcement authorities and United States officials, which include the FBI, the United States Attorney's Office, and the Electronic Crimes Task Force in Los Angeles."
Anyway, the defendants, who allegedly stole something like $1.5 million from the accounts of Bank of America and Wells Fargo customers, all face charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud, which could get them 20 years in prison.
Different ones should also have to answer questions about computer fraud, fraudulent bank transfers, and international money laundering, too, and the results of investigations on those fronts could extend their sentences by quite a lot.
It may be a long time before any of them (and particularly the ones who will have to deal with Egypt's legal system) get their hands on anything resembling a computer again, then.
About the Author:
Doug is a staff writer for SecurityProNews, InternetFinancialNews, SearchNewz, and WebProNews.
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