Police nab operators of virus fraud network

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

A total of 20 suspects accused of obtaining account information from account holders’ computers and stealing approximately 2 million Turkish Liras have been detained in simultaneous operations in Istanbul and the northwestern province of Edirne.

The detentions came as the Istanbul Police Department’s cyber-crimes unit discovered a network administered by two brothers which allegedly withdrew money without authorization from numerous bank accounts. The brothers, identified as T.U. and V.U., were detained in the operations, while police also captured 18 others allegedly linked to the network. In raids on the houses and offices of the suspects, police officers copied the hard disks of a number of computers for further investigation.

The network functioned by members of the network sending an email virus called “Zeus” to the smart phones and computers of account holders who use internet banking systems. Appearing as an invoice, the virus was activated when account holders opened their bills as emails. When account holders wanted to make a transaction through their internet banking systems, “Zeus” sent security codes required for the actions to the network and enabled the network to control the accounts.

Police said the through this method, the network was able to steal 2 million liras and the mastermind brothers were able to operate a casino with this money.