The Serious Crime Agency, alongside the FBI, US Department of Justice and agencies throughout Europe have reached an important point, two and a half years into their investigation, into online criminal activity. 36 websites have been taken down that were being used to steal Credit card numbers or bank account details of millions of unsuspecting victims. These details were then being sold for as little as 2.During the two year investigation nearly 2 million credit cards have been recovered, this has an estimated value of 500 million in international fraud. 3 individuals have already been arrested in connection with purchasing large quantities of stolen material.The IT security project is still in motion and further sites are likely to be addressed and potentially taken down in the coming weeks. Further arrests are also expected in the next few days.Soca is also encouraging internet service providers to stop anonymous individuals from registering multiple websites as these are very difficult to trace back to an owner.
