FBI Nabs 100+ in Phish Phry

At the very least, the FBI deserves credit for the creative name of its latest Internet-fraud roundup: “Operation Phish Phry.” According to a recent news release, the agency’s largest-ever cyber-crime bust netted 100 U.S. and Egyptian suspects believed to have been siphoning cash from the bank accounts of unsuspecting consumers. 

Officials allege that the co-conspirators gained access to the account information for hundreds if not thousands of victims by creating authentic-looking e-mails purported to have come from Bank of America or Wells Fargo. The e-mails were convincing enough to persuade users to enter personal information onto bogus Web sites designed to steal login data (for more on the alleged phishing scheme, check out the lengthy indictment [pdf] posted on Wired.com).

Fifty-three defendants, ages 18 to 44, were charged in the United States, the majority hailing from Los Angeles (others were centered mainly in Charlotte, North Carolina and Las Vegas, according to PCWorld).  The other 47 alleged co-conspirators have been charged in Egypt, Wired reported.


The indictment alleges that Egyptian hackers recruited U.S. co-conspirators to transfer funds from compromised accounts to newly created American accounts, the funds of which eventually made their way to Egypt. According to Computerworld, the compromised accounts were hit for anywhere from a few hundred dollars to more than $2,000.

The indictment doesn’t indicate how much money the gang stole in total, but at least $1.5 million in fraudulent transfers has been identified so far, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller told Wired.com.

Nevertheless, this scheme represents a drop in the bucket when it comes to total worldwide phishing activity. John Harrison of Symantec Corp. tells Computerworld the security vendor counted more than 55,000 phishing sites last year – an increase of more than 60% from 2007 levels.


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