Spam News

Romainian police arrest 20 suspects in phishing attacks

Monday, March 16, 2009

Romainian police last week arrested up to 20 people in connection with phishing attacks.

Stefan Negrila, chief of the organized crime police in the Romanian city of Timisoara, said the alleged cybercriminals set up phony banking websites that they used to trick users in Italy and Spain into handing over sensitive login credentials.

Romania-based Raiffeisen Bank was targeted on March 5 in emails asking users for private accounts details.

The email said users shoud protect their bank account from scams by downloading an attachment.

The attachment took the user to a false web page that resembled the official bank website where users were directed to fill out a form for user passwords and card numbers.

Security experts said most Romanian financial institutions do not have the appropriate security measures in place to guard against this kind of attack.

Many people worldwide now prefer paying their taxes or bills via online banking, but they are susceptible to phishing scams because of limited education from banks about email attacks.

More than 60 percent of Romanian phishing attacks last year were targeted at Raiffeisen Bank.

The phishing email reportedly ended with a note of thanks for the recipient’s cooperation.