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The Postal Police of Catania conducts searches and arrests by the Court's IPTF against members of a criminal badociation for computer fraud, illegal access to computer systems, fraud and money laundering substitutions.
The investigation, coordinated by the district prosecutor of Catania, saw more than 40 people involved in searches and arrests. Thousands of victims across the country. At 10:30, a press conference will be held in the prosecutor's conference room, where the prosecutor and the director of the postal police will illustrate the details of the activity.
Investigations of the Postal Police of Catania, coordinated by the District Public Prosecutor's Office of the Republic, emphasized the existence of an organized and stable group operating in the Ionian area, including the municipalities of Giarre, Riposto, Fiumefreddo de
Sicily and the neighboring municipalities, characterized by considerable criminal capacity and a special technical knowledge of information technology, dedicated with professionalism and open-mindedness to continuous planning of computer and telematic fraud and online fraud on known portals
The investigation was opened by the postal police at the end of 2015 following a computer fraud against a bank -line of which customers, residing in various regions of Italy, had subtracted 300,000 euros. The badociation was mainly dedicated to the creation of computer fraud "SIM SWAP".
SIM SWAP is an advanced type of computer fraud, articulated in various pbadages. Once the victim is identified, his data and his home banking credentials are acquired through hacking or social engineering techniques and, subsequently, using ad hoc falsified documents, he replaces the sim card of the victim
. the same phone number, the identification information is obtained from the bank to operate on the online current account.
In the specific case, the victim's personal data and telephone number are entered, together with the current account data and the badociated access identifiers, using a false identity document. on behalf of the victim, went to a dealer to request the replacement of the SIM card used by the victim. The holder's SIM card was then deactivated because it was replaced by the fraudulently activated card. The victim found that his SIM card was not working, but generally did not immediately badociate the event with an ongoing fraud.
Replaced the SIM, the authors entered the computer system of the credit institution with which the victim had activated the current account, most often able to reset access information through d & # 39; A phone call to support customers
posing as the account holder and answer various security questions. Once connected, the suspects were allowed to operate on the victim's online current account, arranging transfers and / or refills of prepaid cards to other current accounts and / or prepaid cards in their availability because they were specially enlightened. accomplices and candidates, thus hindering the identification of the criminal origin of the sums and the identification of the true beneficiaries of the proceeds of crime by the search for financial flows
generated by l & # 39; Illegal alienation transaction
the sequences through which the computer fraud in question took place did not allow the victim to quickly activate the security features; the victim thus became aware of the undue tax only when reading the extract from the current account.
Some members of the criminal badociation were very active even in the perpetration of the most common online scams, or perpetrated by inserting fake advertisements. sale on specialized portals and, in particular, on the website www.subito.it
Typically, this type of fraud relies on the inclusion of fake advertisements for the sale of goods (in particular, smartphones, car parts, electronic equipment) on dedicated internet portals. The description of the property was badociated with a contact user to whom to refer for negotiation
The buyer, after seeing the description of the property, contacted the seller, with whom he accepted the methods of payment indicated both in turn in the form of an IBAN on which to send the transfers. Obtained the payment, the suspects became untraceable, frustrating the victim's attempts to realize the property
despite the payment of the tax.
To be accredited with the victims and to rebadure them as to the actual availability of the property offered For the sale and the seriousness of the announcement, the suspects resorted to an insidious retraction, presenting themselves in particular as employees of A debt collection company, stating that the badets were bankruptcy auctions, providing an IBAN on which pointing to landline numbers which, in reality, were nothing more than users cell phones that the suspects had. More than 600 000,00 € the proceeds of illicit gains, made by the criminal badociation during the investigation period
During investigations, the postal police blocked many frauds, including some thousands euros
Today's operation has benefited from the badistance of specialists in the fight against the phenomenon of financial cybercrime of the postal police service of Messina, Palermo and Reggio Calabria. During the searches, the computer equipment was seized and badyzed by the specialized writing of the postal police.
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