Europol, Ameripol dismantle international criminal phishing network

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - A criminal phishing network that left more than 480,000 victims worldwide was busted in the first-ever joint operation between Europol and Ameripol, the Police Community of the Americas, according to an official statement on Thursday.

In a statement, Europol said it has supported European and Latin American authorities in dismantling an international criminal network engaged in unlocking stolen or lost mobile phones through a phishing platform.

Citing investigators, a total of 483,000 victims worldwide, who had attempted to regain access to their phones, had been phished in the process, it added.

The victims are mainly Spanish-speaking nationals from European, North American, and South American countries.

"The action week took place between 10 and 17 September and resulted in 17 arrests, 28 searches and 921 items seized, mainly mobile phones but also other electronic devices, vehicles and weapons," said the statement, adding that it was carried out by law enforcement and judiciary authorities from Spain, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

The administrator of the phishing platform, an Argentinian national, was arrested during the large-scale law enforcement operation. He had been developing and running phishing services since 2018.

The criminal sold access to his website and charged extra costs for phishing, SMS, emails, or call performing, said Europol, adding that criminal users of the platform –or "unlockers"– provided phone unlocking services to other criminals in possession of stolen phones.

"Investigators identified more than 2,000 unlockers who had been registered in the phishing platform over the years. The investigation revealed that the criminal network had unlocked over 1.2 million mobile phones,” it added.

For the first time, Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) coordinated an international operation together with the Specialized Cybercrime Center of Ameripol.