Police arrest six in online banking scam

The Met Police arrested five men and a woman on suspicion of conspiracy to commit online banking fraud

British police have arrested six people accused of carrying out phishing attacks against UK bank users.

The Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU) and the Irish Garda Síochána Fraud Investigation Bureau searched five homes in London and an address in Navan, County Meath, and arrested five men and a woman on suspicion of conspiracy to commit online banking fraud and Computer Misuse Act offences.

"We have taken this action to shut down an organised criminal network running an online phishing and account take-over operation," said Detective Inspector Colin Wetherill from the PCeU.

"A great deal of personal information was compromised and cleverly exploited for substantial profit. By disrupting the operation we have hopefully prevented further loss to individuals and institutions across the UK."

Early information from the police suggested that over 20,000 online bank accounts and credit cards had been compromised by the gang. The total amount stolen could be more than £2.5m, but it is not clear how much was successfully transferred to the suspects' accounts.

The arrests were part of the PCeU's Operation Dynamophone anti-phishing campaign.