Police have arrested ten ‘phishermen’ who, through various fraudulent activities on the internet, are thought to have netted about €800,000 from unsuspecting customers.
The detainees, all of Rumanian origin, set up fictitious websites, bank accounts and virtual stores and then began parting customers from either their personal details via ‘phishing’ emails or their cash by accepting payments for goods that were never delivered.
Seventy people are known to have been duped by this network but it is thought that many more are involved but have not come forward yet.
The network are known to have sent out around half a million emails attempting to trap people into giving away their personal data.
The detainees are charged with The detainees are charged with document forgery, offences against public health (the leader also had a marijuana plantation), weapons possession, conspiracy and fraud. The network had also set up around fifty different bank accounts to channel their illgotten gains.
There is certainly an increase in phishing activity in recent weeks as many will have noticed in their email inboxes.