Net Mobsters Target Aust
Illawarra Mercury
Thursday May 27, 2004
AUSTRALIANS are being targeted by Eastern European organised crime families using the Internet to extort and steal far from home.
Delegates at the annual AusCERT Asia-Pacific Internet Security Conference on the Gold Coast were warned yesterday that mobsters were hiring computer programmers to take their brand of criminal activity online.
The deputy head of Britain's National Hi-Tech Crime Unit, Superintendent Mick Deats, said one Eastern European syndicate was earning money all over the world from Internet credit card fraud, software piracy, child pornography and online extortion. The group recently targeted banks in Australia with what is known as ``phishing" - the mass delivery of unsolicited emails to discover account details.
© 2004 Illawarra Mercury
Share This