OPERATION "WEB
SNARE"
Tightening the Net on Cyber Criminals
08/27/04
Spamming, Spoofing,
Phishing, & Hacking.
A boutique law firm?
No. Rather just a few of many cyber-crime schemes perpetrated over the
Internet against people and companies worldwide. These crimes cost our
country billions of dollars each year -- and they are increasingly used
by terrorist groups to finance their activities.
What are we
doing about them?
Lots. At a press conference on 8/26/04, we and our partners announced the results
of "Operation Web Snare," a coordinated takedown
of suspects in more than 160 cyber-crime cases, putting an end to schemes where
nearly 150,000 victims lost more than $215 million.
Here's a sampling of the cases:
Spamming: A
Los Angeles-area man allegedly stole thousands of valid e-mail addresses
from a previous employer and sold them online. He was also a "wireless
spammer," driving around LA using unsecured residential wireless
networks to broadcast pornography ads from his laptop.
Phishing/Spoofing: A
man in Iowa allegedly sent e-mails to customers of the MSN ISP from a "spoofed" MSN
e-mail address telling them to update their financial account records
with MSN by "just clicking on this link." When they did, the
information was snapped up ... and not by MSN. The case led us to an
Internet service provider in India, a "redirect" service in
Austria (a tactic that hides e-mail senders' true identity), and ultimately
back to the subject's computer.
Hacking: A
Romanian computer hacker and his five American accomplices were indicted
for allegedly conspiring to steal more than $10 million in computer equipment
from a California computer equipment supplier after hacking into its
computer system.
What's the
secret to these kinds of successes? Partnerships. Our Cyber
Division, the Internet Crime Complaint Center, software and marketing
industries, international, state and local law enforcement, and other
federal agencies. Over the past year, we've created or significantly
expanded more than 50 joint cyber-crime task forces across the United
States.
In the words of Jana
Monroe, Assistant Director of our Cyber Division: "The success of
Operation Web Snare is a testament to the effectiveness of our law enforcement
partnerships, as well as the cooperation of the private sector. We are
committed to chasing down cyber criminals, wherever they are and wherever
they go."
For more information
on these and other cases in Operation Websnare, as well as tips on how
to avoid becoming a victim of these kind of attacks, click
here.
Links:
DOJ
Press Release | Los
Angeles Press Release | Internet
Crime Complaint Center | Cyber
Investigations
