Brazilian police have arrested 53 people for allegedly stealing $30m (£16m) from online bank accounts.

The crackdown, involving 160 police officers, took place across four states in North Brazil.

Suspects are believed to have targeted thousands of online banking customers by sending emails containing Trojan horses, a type of virus able to collect information on internet bank accounts.

The phishing attacks targeted banks including HSBC, Banco do Brasil, Caixa Economica Federal and Unibanco, according to anti-virus firm Sophos.

Police said the majority of those arrested are aged below 25 with 18 suspects previously arrested for similar offences.

'The Trojans would lurk in the background, waiting for innocent users to enter their bank login details and then secretly pass them back to the hackers,' said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.

'All computer users should be running an up-to-date anti-virus as well as protecting their PC with a firewall,' he said.

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