Security threats Toolkit

Suspected phisher arrested

Tags:
Cybercrime,
Arrest,
AOL,
Phishing

Alorie Gilbert CNET News

Published: 27 Jan 2006 10:30 GMT

A California man who allegedly duped America Online customers into disclosing their credit card information over the Web was arrested on fraud and other charges Thursday.

According to the charges, Jeffrey Brett Goodin of Azusa, California, used the fraudulently obtained information to make unauthorised charges using the credit and debit cards of his victims. He allegedly tricked his victims, all America Online subscribers, by sending phishing emails urging them to "update" their AOL billing information or lose their service.

As is typical with such schemes, the emails allegedly sent by Goodin appeared to have come from AOL's billing department, according to the US Attorney's Office in Los Angeles that announced the arrest. The emails, which were sent by the thousands, directed recipients to phoney Web sites operated by the sender, and prompted potential victims to enter personal information, including credit and debit card numbers.

Goodin, 45, is charged with wire fraud and the unauthorised use of an access device. If convicted of both offences, he faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison. The FBI, the Secret Service and police in Ontario, California, all helped investigate the case.

Phishers, who lure victims by posing as legitimate companies, have become a major scourge of the Internet along with spam, viruses and spyware. A recent study showed that online fraudsters launched a record number of phishing scams last year, with nearly 17,000 unique email-based fraud attacks detected in November alone, according to the Anti-Phishing Working Group. Roughly one in four US Internet users is a target of a phishing scam, according to another recent study.

The perpetrators are hard to catch, but efforts to bust them have intensified lately. Aided by Microsoft, Bulgarian police nabbed eight people last week who allegedly targeted MSN customers in an international phishing operation.