HE HAGUE, Netherlands — Police have arrested dozens of suspects in an international investigation into a cybercrime gang that siphoned millions of euros from victims’ accounts in an identity fraud scam.
European Union justice agency Eurojust announced Wednesday that 49 suspects, most of them from Nigeria and Cameroon, were arrested a day earlier in an investigation by Italian, Spanish and Polish police supported by officers in Belgium, Britain and Georgia.
EU police agency Europol helped co-ordinate 58 searches during Tuesday’s operation. Eurojust says in a statement that investigations showed that cybercriminals had defrauded victims of 6 million euros ($6.8 million) and transferred it out of Europe.
The fraud involved stealing victims’ data such as usernames and passwords, in a process known as phishing, and diverting money from them and their customers.