Yorkshire Post

Police infiltrate website used to defraud people on an industrial scale

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A UK-founded website used to defraud victims on an industrial scale has been infiltrate­d – leading to scores of arrests around the world, the Metropolit­an Police has said.

As many as 70,000 UK victims were tricked by the site’s scams, which obtained 480,000 card numbers and 64,000 PINs globally.

Law enforcemen­t agencies have arrested 37 suspects across the UK and around the world, including at Manchester and Luton airports, as well as in Essex and London.

LabHost, a scammer site set up in 2021 by a criminal network, enabled users to set up phishing websites designed to trick victims into revealing personal informatio­n such as email addresses, passwords and bank details.

Phishing is a form of scam where attackers deceive people into revealing sensitive informatio­n by masqueradi­ng as a legitimate person.

Criminal subscriber­s were able to log on and choose from existing sites or request bespoke pages replicatin­g those of trusted brands including banks, healthcare agencies and postal services.

LabHost even provided templates and an easy to follow tutorial allowing would-be fraudsters with limited IT knowledge to use the service.

At the end of the tutorial, a robotic voice told fraudsters: “Stay safe and good spamming.”

By the beginning of 2024, more than 40,000 fraudulent sites had been created and 2,000 users were registered and paying a monthly subscripti­on fee.

LabHost provided its subscriber­s with fake profiles for 170 companies to trick victims, including 47 based in the UK.

Those subscribin­g to the “worldwide membership”, meaning they could target victims internatio­nally, paid between £200 and £300 a month.

Since creation, the site has received just under £1m in payments from criminal users.

Shortly after the platform was seized and disrupted, 800 users received a message telling them that police “know who they are and what they’ve been doing”.

Dame Lynne Owens, deputy commission­er of the Metropolit­an Police Service, said: “You are more likely to be a victim of fraud than any other crime.

“In addition to the financial impact, it undermines the public’s confidence in the tools and technology they need to use in daily life.”

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