Police have arrested three men who are accused of being involved in large-scale online attacks to steal the personal details of customers of a number of UK banks.
The two unnamed Romanians and a Nigerian have been arrested in a swoop on a London hotel on suspicion of money laundering and conspiracy to defraud, the police said.
The men are alleged to be behind the appearance of 2,000 bogus bank login pages that had been part of a campaign to steal account details.
Computers were seized while further searches are being carried out in London and the Midlands.
The operation was the first carried out jointly by the Police eCrime Unit and the Serious Organised Crime Unit Cyber wing, which are due to merge as the National Cyber Crime Unit next year.
PCeU head detective superintendent Charlie McMurdie said: “The dynamic nature and successful outcome of this operation, which has prevented distress and financial loss to numerous UK victims, clearly demonstrates the benefit of brigading resources and expertise in this increasing and specialist area of criminality.”
