Police remove large-scale fraudulent website “LabHost”
Illustration of a cyber criminal using a computer.
Seksan Mongkol Kamsao | Moment | Getty Images
A huge fraudulent website used by thousands of criminals to trick people into handing over personal information such as email addresses, passwords and bank account information has been breached by International Police.
The Metropolitan Police said in a statement on Thursday that a website called “LabHost” was used by 2,000 criminals to steal users' personal information.
Police have so far identified just under 70,000 individual victims in the UK who entered their details on one of LabHost's websites. According to the Metropolitan Police Department, a total of 37 suspects have been arrested so far.
Police also disrupted LabHost's website, replacing information on the page with a message stating that law enforcement had seized the service.
According to the Metropolitan Police Department, LabHost obtained 480,000 credit card numbers, 64,000 PIN codes, and more than 1 million passwords for websites and other online services.
The Metropolitan Police said up to 25,000 victims in the UK had been contacted by police and notified that their data had been breached.
Who is the lab host?
According to police, LabHost was founded in 2021 by a criminal cyber network that created fake websites to trick people into sensitive personal information such as bank account information and passwords.
Criminals can use this to exploit victims through existing sites or create new websites that mimic those of trusted brands such as banks, healthcare providers, and the postal service. I did.
“Online fraudsters think they can act with impunity,” Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Dame Lyn Owens said in a statement on Thursday.
“They believe they can hide behind digital identities and platforms such as LabHost, and have absolute confidence that these sites cannot be penetrated by law enforcement.”
Owens said the operation “explains how law enforcement agencies around the world can and will work together with each other and with private sector partners to dismantle international fraud networks at their source.” “We're going to do it,” he added.
Private companies including blockchain analytics firm Chainaracy, Intel 471, Microsoft, The Shadowserver Foundation, and Trend Micro worked with police to identify and shut down LabHost.
The investigation began in June 2022 after police received information about Labhost's activities from the Cyber Defense Alliance, an information-sharing alliance between banks and law enforcement agencies.
The Metropolitan Police's Cyber Crime Unit then took action in conjunction with the National Crime Agency, City of London Police, Europol, UK local authorities and other international police forces.
Summarize this content to 100 words Illustration of a cyber criminal using a computer.Seksan Mongkol Kamsao | Moment | Getty ImagesA huge fraudulent website used by thousands of criminals to trick people into handing over personal information such as email addresses, passwords and bank account information has been breached by International Police.The Metropolitan Police said in a statement on Thursday that a website called “LabHost” was used by 2,000 criminals to steal users' personal information.Police have so far identified just under 70,000 individual victims in the UK who entered their details on one of LabHost's websites. According to the Metropolitan Police Department, a total of 37 suspects have been arrested so far.Police also disrupted LabHost's website, replacing information on the page with a message stating that law enforcement had seized the service.According to the Metropolitan Police Department, LabHost obtained 480,000 credit card numbers, 64,000 PIN codes, and more than 1 million passwords for websites and other online services.The Metropolitan Police said up to 25,000 victims in the UK had been contacted by police and notified that their data had been breached.Who is the lab host?According to police, LabHost was founded in 2021 by a criminal cyber network that created fake websites to trick people into sensitive personal information such as bank account information and passwords.Criminals can use this to exploit victims through existing sites or create new websites that mimic those of trusted brands such as banks, healthcare providers, and the postal service. I did.”Online fraudsters think they can act with impunity,” Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Dame Lyn Owens said in a statement on Thursday.“They believe they can hide behind digital identities and platforms such as LabHost, and have absolute confidence that these sites cannot be penetrated by law enforcement.”Owens said the operation “explains how law enforcement agencies around the world can and will work together with each other and with private sector partners to dismantle international fraud networks at their source.” “We're going to do it,” he added.Private companies including blockchain analytics firm Chainaracy, Intel 471, Microsoft, The Shadowserver Foundation, and Trend Micro worked with police to identify and shut down LabHost.The investigation began in June 2022 after police received information about Labhost's activities from the Cyber Defense Alliance, an information-sharing alliance between banks and law enforcement agencies.The Metropolitan Police's Cyber Crime Unit then took action in conjunction with the National Crime Agency, City of London Police, Europol, UK local authorities and other international police forces.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/18/police-take-down-massive-fraud-website-labhost.html Police remove large-scale fraudulent website “LabHost”
