Finns And Europol Down Online Credit Card Fraud Ring

Finnish police and Europol have collaborated to dismantle a major criminal gang that was making thousands from pilfered credit card data, the European agency said today.

Two suspected members of the Asian gang, who were said to be travelling on false documents, were arrested at Helsinki airport. Computers that allegedly belonged to them were seized along with around 15,000 stolen credit card numbers found on them.

Europol claimed that in Europe alone, banks had lost over €70,000 (£61,000) because of the criminal operation. The body said there was further evidence of international payment fraud and connections with illegal immigration.

Europol battles cyber crooks

It marks one of the first major successes of Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), which was formally established earlier this year with the aim of supplementing better information sharing across European private and public bodies.

“In this case, the commitment of the Finnish Border Guard and National Police, coupled with the close international cooperation facilitated by Europol’s EC3, has been crucial for investigating this sophisticated scam,” said Troels Oerting, Head of the European Cybercrime Centre.

“As the central point in Europe for tackling cybercrime, EC3 will continue to proactively support other investigations of this nature.”

Just last month, Europol was celebrating the takedown of another cyber criminal operation. Spanish authorities, in cooperation with EC3, arrested eleven suspected of running “the largest and most complex” cybercrime network dedicated to ransomware.

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