Six people have been arrested in Ireland following an investigation into a website which scammed people out of €115 million worldwide.
The website iSpoof.cc was used by thousands of fraudsters internationally to scam people through a process known as “spoofing”, where scams take place over phone calls or texts. The investigation involved law enforcement agencies across several countries such as the US, UK and Canada and led to the search of 17 properties in Ireland.
The website enabled people to send out texts and make phone calls that appeared to be from trusted sources, such as the HSE and An Garda Siochana. The texts contained a link, which if pressed allowed fraudsters to collect personal information and hack people’s back accounts.
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The Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) supported by the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau (GNCCB) and local Divisional resources in Dublin, Meath and Louth coordinated activity in Ireland on November 8 and 9 2022 resulting in
• 17 searches (Dublin, Meath, Louth)
• 6 arrests including execution of 14 bench warrants
• 132 electronic devices seized
• 64 suspect bank accounts identified
• Ancillary evidential exhibits seized
The deception is estimated to have cost victims a staggering €115 million worldwide.
Europol’s Executive Director Catherine De Bolle welcomed the arrests, adding that they sent a strong message out to cybercriminals engaged in similar scams. The recent arrests form only part of a wider investigation here into cybercrime by the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau.
There were approximately 10 million fraudulent phone calls made from the website as of August last year. The website itself was dismantled last month but is believed to have been used by 21,000 scammers worldwide.
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