The Albanian Police have arrested two Albanians and two Cameroonian citizens for their involvement in an email phishing scheme that has defrauded customers of €4 million. 8 foreign suspects are still on the run.
In a statement made earlier today, the State Police notified that the phishing scheme had been operational for at least the past two years and had affected people in nine countries, including the United States, Germany, and the Philippines.
After hacking into the victims’ computers, the schemers laid dormant, monitoring their activity. Once the user began a transaction with a company, they would email the customer posing as the business in question to tell them their banking details had changed and all payments must be made to this new account.
Using this email phishing scheme, the arrested and their collaborators managed to reroute some €4 million into bank accounts opened in Albania under the name of at least 17 fictitious companies.
The Police reported that the stolen money had been returned to all identified victims.
The investigation is still ongoing, as the Police are working to identify other fraudulent companies established in Albania and foreign-based collaborators. Meanwhile, the file and evidence have been transferred to the Prosecution Office of Tirana.
