Fergie's Tech Blog

U.K. Case Shows Link Between Online Fraud and Jihadist Networks - UPDATE

Brian Krebs writes in The Washington Post:

The global jihad landed in Linda Spence's e-mail inbox during the summer of 2003, in the form of a message urging her to verify her eBay account information. The 35-year-old New Jersey resident clicked on the link included in the message, which took her to a counterfeit eBay site where she unwittingly entered in personal financial information.

Ultimately, Spence's information wound up in the hands of a young man in the United Kingdom who investigators said was the brains behind a terrorist cell that sought to facilitate deadly bombing attacks against targets in the United States, Europe and the Middle East.

Investigators say Spence's stolen data made its way via the Internet black market for stolen identities to 21-year-old biochemistry student Tariq al-Daour, one of three U.K. residents who pleaded guilty this week to a terrorism charge of using the Internet to incite murder.

More here.

UPDATE: 14:46 PDT: Bob Sulivan also has some details here over on MSNBC's Red Tape Chronicles.

posted by Fergie @ 7/05/2007 02:00:00 PM