Two Romanians were just extradited to face charges related to a phishing scheme. The phishing scheme targeted customers of some well known financial institutions.
Plead “not guilty”
FBI officials announced on September 29 that Petru Bogdan Belbita, 25, of Craiova, Romania, and Cornel Ionut Tonita, 28, of Galati, Romania, were brought to the US to face charges of conspiracy and aggravated identity theft. They have pleaded “not guilty” to these charges.
Trail of evidence
The pair were caught after an investigation was launched about a complaint of a fraudulent email made to appear as if it came from Connecticut-based People’s Bank. The email directed users to a compromised computer in Minnesota that hosted a counterfeit web site for People’s Bank. As the investigation unfolded it was determined the duo also engaged in similar phishing schemes targeting customers of Citibank, CapitalOne, JP Morgan Chase & Co., PayPal, and others.
Roundup
The two men, as well as five other Romanian citizens, were indicted by a grand jury in 2007. Belbita was arrested in Canada on Jan. 24, 2009, and brought to the United States Sept. 25. He appeared before a federal judge in Connecticut Sept. 29 and pleaded not guilty. Tonita was arrested in Croatia in July and extradited to the United States Sept. 4. He pleaded not guilty six days later. The other five Romanians indicted in this scheme are looking over their shoulders now. It shouldn’t be long before they face the music (cue Hawaii Five-O theme).
Keeping their buddies away
Mailprotector’s services mitigate the risk of phishing attacks. Whether you host your own mail server or need us to do it for you it’s a given that you need advanced email security to prevent phishing, Trojans, spam and other malware from reaching your inbox.
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