The police have arrested 11 people in connection with a syndicate that was hacking credit card payment systems to make online purchases. The group had apparently created fake credit cards to perpetrate the fraud, and would then intercept verification communications with banks to fool e-commerce sites.
Commercial Crime CID (Multimedia and Cyber Crime Investigation) deputy director SAC Mohd Kamarudin Din Md Din said that the suspects were picked up as part of ‘Ops Helang’, and were located in Selangor, Pahang, and Kelantan. It is believed that they had managed to rake in about RM1 million through their activities.
According to the police, the syndicate purchased items from online stores using fake credit cards. They would then hijack the connection between the online payment system and the bank; allowing them to change fool the online site into thinking that the payment was successful.
To further mask their locations, the group would also provide fake addresses for the delivery of goods. Once the initial delivery failed, they would contact the courier for delivery at a secondary location. The goods would then be resold through other websites or social media to convert it back into cash.
This sort of activity is not entirely new as far as cybercrime goes, although it does raise the question of weaknesses in local online transactions. No details were released on how the syndicate managed to intercept communications between the bank and the online store, although it is likely that the information will be revealed over time.
[Source: Bernama]
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