'Phishers' who conned Brits arrested

Twelve alleged cyber criminals have been arrested in the south-east of England on charges relating to the practice of phishing - the attempt to deceive people into handing over bank details or other personal information through the use of bogus web forms.

The National Hi-Tech Crime Unit arrested six men and six women from the former Soviet states of Estonia, Latvia, Russia and the Ukraine in a sting operation which it ran in conjunction with the National Crime Squad, the FBI and the US Secret Service.

The arrests confirm many people's suspicions that such crimes are being perpetrated by Russian organised crime groups.

Detective Superintendent Mick Deats, deputy head of the NHTCU, said: "Organised Crime is targeting internet users in the UK to launder money stolen from online bank accounts where people have been duped into handing over their account details.

"We believe this gang has sent hundreds of thousands of pounds back to Russia."

Phishing has become a common internet menace and one which appears to be growing, as organised criminals realise the benefits and greater reach of running scams online.

Experts certainly agree on the fact that the perpetrators of such scams aren't chancers.

The increasingly devious and ingenious methods employed by phishers to trick users and ape the appearance and functionality of established online sites - such as banks and e-tailers - certainly supports that assertion.

Pete Simpson, ThreatLab manager at Clearswift, said such scams are run by "a combination of con artists and highly-skilled programmers".