By Ife Osemedua
Three Nigerians who were accused of being part of a criminal organisation have been arrested by the International Police Organisation (Interpol) for allegedly defrauding governments and private firms in over 150 countries.
According to a statement posted on website of the Interpol on Wednesday, a joint operation of the Interpol, a cybersecurity company, Group-IB and the Nigeria Police Force, got the alleged fraudsters in an operation codenamed ‘Operation Falcon.’
The statement explained that the gang used mass email phishing campaigns distributing popular malware strains under the guise of purchasing orders, product inquiries, and even COVID-19 aid, while impersonating legitimate companies, to defraud innocent targets.
It added that based on the infrastructure that the attackers used and their techniques, they were able to establish that the gang was divided into subgroups, with a number of individuals still at large.
“The findings on other suspected gang members, whom Group-IB was able to track down, have been shared with Interpol’s Cybercrime Directorate. The investigation continues,” it added.
“The suspects are alleged to have developed phishing links, domains, and mass mailing campaigns in which they impersonated representatives of organisations.
“They, then, used these campaigns to disseminate 26 malware programmes, spyware, and remote access tools, including AgentTesla, Loki, Azorult, Spartan, and the nanocore and Remcos Remote Access Trojans.
“These programmes were used to infiltrate and monitor the systems of victim organisations and individuals, before launching scams and syphoning funds.
“According to Group-IB, the prolific gang is believed to have compromised government and private sector companies in more than 150 countries since 2017,” the statement revealed.
Interpol’s cybercrime director, Craig Jones was quoted as saying that the public-private relationships are important in disrupting virtual crimes, stressing that “cooperation in investigation will upset well-established criminal business models.”