INTERPOL Arrest Three Nigerians Who Attacked 500,000 Firms In 150 Countries
INTERPOL has arrested three Nigerians for Business Email Compromise (BEC).
The year-long investigation code-named ‘Operation Falcon’ involved INTERPOL National Central Bureau in Abuja, Nigeria Police, and Group-IB’s APAC Cyber Investigations Team.
Since at least 2017, the cybercrime gang attacked no fewer than 500,000 government and private sector companies in over 150 countries.
Group-IB, global threat hunting and intelligence company established that subgroups exist with a number of members still at large.
The three in custody have the initials OC (age 32), IO (age 34), and OI (age 35).
In a statement, INTERPOL noted that the suspects allegedly developed phishing links, domains, and mass mailing campaigns.
They impersonated representatives of organizations.
The ring disseminated 26 malware programmes, spyware and remote access tools, including AgentTesla, Loki, Azorult, Spartan and the nanocore, and Remcos Remote Access Trojans.
The gang used the programmes to infiltrate and monitor the victims’ systems, before launching scams and syphoning funds.
INTERPOL Cybercrime Director, Craig Jones, commended all those who played a part in the probe.
“This group was running a well-established criminal business model. From infiltration to cashing in, they used a multitude of tools and techniques to generate maximum profits. We look forward to seeing additional results from this operation,” Jones said.