Interpol on Monday introduced the arrest of three suspected international scammers in Nigeria for utilizing distant entry trojans (RATs) akin to Agent Tesla to facilitate malware-enabled cyber fraud.
“The lads are thought to have used the RAT to reroute monetary transactions, stealing confidential on-line connection particulars from company organizations, together with oil and fuel corporations in South East Asia, the Center East and North Africa,” the Worldwide Legal Police Group mentioned in a press release.
One of many scammers in query, named Hendrix Omorume, has been charged and convicted of three counts of monetary fraud and has been sentenced to a 12-month jail time period. The 2 different suspects are nonetheless on trial.
The three Nigerian people, who’re aged between 31 and 38, have been apprehended for being in possession of faux paperwork akin to fraudulent invoices and cast official letters.
The legislation enforcement mentioned that the suspects systematically used Agent Tesla to breach enterprise computer systems and divert monetary transactions to financial institution accounts below their management.
A .NET-based superior malware that first appeared in 2014, Agent Tesla primarily will get delivered by phishing emails and has capabilities akin to keylogging, display screen seize, form-grabbing, credential stealing, and exfiltrating different delicate data.
The arrests comply with a sting operation performed concurrently in two completely different places within the Nigerian cities of Lagos and Benin Metropolis, with non-public sector intelligence supplied by cybersecurity firm Pattern Micro.
The operation can also be a part of a world legislation enforcement operation codenamed “Killer Bee” involving Interpol and authorities from 11 completely different international locations throughout Southeast Asia, together with Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The event additionally comes shut on the heels of the alleged chief of the SilverTerrier BEC cybercrime gang in a separate operation dubbed Delilah. It was preceded by two associated operations known as Falcon I and Falcon II in 2020 and 2021.
