An investigation by the Met’s Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU) has led to the arrest of eight people behind a phishing attack that netted them a woman's £1 million lifesavings.

The woman was targeted by a phishing email purporting to be from her bank. The email directed her to a web page, a replica of her bank's website. The fraudsters were sent her banking details after she entered them on the fake website. Her stolen details were then sold for £3,200 to another criminal network, who used a third fraudster to call the bank posing as the victim and have contact details associated with the account changed. Her savings were stolen via online transfers to numerous accounts, including several controlled by other individuals.

When police raided the London addresses of those behind the attack, they found 11,000 credit cards - of which over 8,000 were those of UK customers - worth an estimated £2.5 million. They also seized multiple computers used for fraud. The gang were all found guilty of two counts of conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to launder the proceeds of crime at Southwark Crown Court.

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