£3m banking e-crime ring is sent off to gaol

LONDON'S Metropolitan Police has jailed two men for masterminding a criminal network that siphoned £3m from British bank accounts using online fraud.

A statement put out by the Met says that the men were jailed on Monday this week following an investigation by its Police Central E-Crime Unit (PCEU).

The men are Ukrainian nationals, Yuriy Konovalenko or Pavel Klikov, 29, and Yevhen Kulibaba, 33. Both lived in Chingford and gave been jailed for four years and eight months.

The men had already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and according to the Met they join 13 other people already behind bars for their role in the "sophisticated" online fraud.

The investigation, codenamed Operation Lath, found that the syndicate used trojans to infect home computers and take control of bank accounts. Once they had control they would then siphon off cash, the officers said. Funds were transferred to a range of accounts.

Kulibaba was the Mr Big in the group, according to the Met, and would obtain the hacked accounts before handing out their details to other members. Konovolenko was his right hand man in the UK and worked as a coordinator, the Met added.

"These defendants were part of an organised network of computer criminals operating a state-of-the art international online banking fraud, through which they stole many millions of pounds from individuals and businesses in the UK and United States," said detective inspector Colin Wetherill of the Metropolitan Police Central E-Crime Unit.

"The investigation involved unprecedented levels of cooperation between the Metropolitan Police, the UK banks, the FBI and other UK and international law enforcement agencies. We are working hard to reduce the harm caused by these activities, to put fear into the minds of those contemplating these conspiracies and to bring such offenders to justice." µ