Fergie's Tech Blog

Federal Investigation Nets 100 in Phishing Scheme

Brian Prince writes on eWeek:

The FBI partnered with Egyptian law enforcement to shutdown a phishing ring authorities say was targeting American banks. The investigation, which began in 2007, represents the biggest cyber-crime roundup thus far in the U.S.

Authorities in the U.S. and Egypt have charged 100 people with participating in a sophisticated phishing ring authorities say defrauded two banks in the United States.

Early today, police in cities across the U.S. arrested 33 of the 53 suspects named in a federal indictment in Los Angeles last week. Overseas, Egyptian authorities charged another 47 defendants for participating in the scheme.

The charges were the result of a two-year probe known as Operation Phish Phry, which started when FBI agents working with United States financial institutions began working to identify and disrupt white collar criminals targeting the financial infrastructure in the United States . Using intelligence developed during the initiative, the FBI partnered with Egyptian law enforcement to investigate multiple suspects based in Egypt . By the time it was over, the effort resulted in the largest cyber-crime investigation to date in the U.S., FBI officials said.

posted by Fergie @ 10/07/2009 03:19:00 PM