OPERATION PHISH PHRY - POLICE PULSE

OPERATION PHISH PHRY - POLICE PULSE: "Nearly 100 people were charged today in the U.S. and Egypt as part of Operation Phish Phry, one the largest cyber fraud phishing cases to date. It’s the latest action in what Director Robert Mueller described in a major address today as a “cyber arms race,” where law enforcement and criminals compete to stay one step ahead of each other on the ever-expanding virtual frontier.
Cyber thieves “phish” for personal information such as usernames, passwords, and financial account details by tricking users into thinking their sensitive information is being given to trusted websites when, in fact, the sites are traps.

The defendants in Operation Phish Phry targeted U.S. banks and victimized hundreds and possibly thousands of account holders by stealing their financial information and using it to transfer about $1.5 million to bogus accounts they controlled. More than 50 individuals in California, Nevada, and North Carolina, and nearly 50 Egyptian citizens have been charged with crimes including computer fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, money laundering, and aggravated identify theft.

During the two-year investigation led by FBI's Los Angeles office, working closely with the Secret Service, the Electronics Crimes Task Force in Los Angeles, state and local law enforcement, and Egyptian counterparts—the first joint cyber investigation between Egypt and the United States. Such a cooperative effort illustrates “the power of our global partnerships,” Mueller said during his speech in San Francisco to address the criminal cyber threat and what we’re doing to combat it."