They call it 'phishing' or 'spoofing' and it is the fastest-growing fraud on the web, netting cyber-criminals millions of pounds, dollars and euros. Sophisticated gangs are setting up fake websites that mimic well-established companies and banks.

see also: Fake banks and Web sites in the news 2000-2004

2007 Articles

September 2007-Winepeg Sun E-mail Scammer Nailed A Nigerian refugee who had been living in Toronto is in custody after Winnipeg police made a landmark arrest in connection with a West African e-mail scam. It is the first time a Canadian police agency outside of Toronto has made such an arrest, but it came after an 84-year-old Winnipeg man was bilked out of more than $30,000. "It's very big for us. The last one in Toronto was a number of years ago," said Det. Gerri Forscutt, a member of the commercial crime unit which investigated the scam

2006 Articles

March 2006 - Legal Affairs: The Vigilante in the Kitchen
IN THE SUMMER OF 2004, Cecilia Fischer received an e-mail with a tempting offer. The sender claimed to be the lawyer for a millionaire who had died without heirs, and if she would stand in as the deceased's next of kin and help obtain the money, the lawyer would split the estate with her.... Suspecting a scam, Fischer forwarded the e-mail to ... her niece, Susan Williams. The appeal led the 28-year-old Williams to join one of the world's most effective scam-fighting operations.... She joined Artists Against 419, an organization whose aim is to shut down, or "kill," fraudulent websites that help hucksters gain a mark's trust.

Feb 23 2006 - Australian IT News: Nigerians stung over scams
Heise Online: Verhaftungen wegen Verdachts auf Online-Betrug in den Niederlanden (German)
Official Press Release: Amerikanen helpen bij pakken Nigeriaanse oplichters: FBI slaat toe in Amsterdam (Dutch)
DUTCH police have arrested 12 Nigerians ... on suspicion of committing fraud or involvement in fraud in the scheme, which earned them a total $US2 million ($2.7 million). They were arrested Tuesday after raids on premises in Amsterdam and the central city of Zaandam, during which police seized €25,000 ($45,000) in cash, computers and fake travel documents.... The gang sent some 100,000 emails to potential victims, police said.

Feb 14 2006 - The Register: 419er jailed for 376 years
A Nigerian 419er was last Friday jailed for 376 years by a Lagos court for "stealing, forgery, impersonation and conspiracy to obtain money by false pretences" contrary to the Advance Fee Fraud Act.... Harrison Odiawa, 38, aka Abu Belgori, managed to extract $1,939,710 from US national George Robert Blake.... Odiawa was eventually tracked and arrested in Lagos by Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) operatives. During his trial, Blake ... identified Odiawa from his voice because "because they had conversations for more than 100 times over the telephone". Odiawa countered that he was not in fact the person who had scammed the American but rather "chanced on the telephone number he found on a computer that was not lodged out from the internet in his cyber café".

2005 Articles

Nov 08 2005 - bit-tech.net: Artists Against 419
There are many variations on the 419 scam, and the ease with which the internet provides anonymity means that online fraud is on the increase. [...] Scammers want your money, and despite the seriousness of the crime, many police forces around the world are severely underfunded when it comes to cybercrime. The international nature of the crime also makes it difficult to prosecute. With authorities often having their hands tied, what to do? Well, a group of online enthusiasts are taking matters into their own hands and are doing what they can to get the scammers taken down. Allow me to introduce - the Artists against 419.

May 29 2005 - The Observer: Robin Hoods and their merry hackers
The crime of phishing has spawned a new breed of vigilante that brings to mind Robin Hood, Batman and the Guardian Angels rolled into one. [...] The vigilantes are hackers who, fed up with the mushrooming of fraudulent websites, are taking matters into their own hands. One group, The Lad Wrecking Crew, specialises in hacking into fake websites [...] Another group of internet vigilantes, Artists Against 419 (named after a notorious scam originally emanating from Nigeria), is using more legitimate means. AA419 organises flash mobbing, the bombardment of websites by so many internet users that they crash. It claims to have closed 127 fake banks using this tactic since 2003.

Mar 03 2005 - Security.NL: DDoS screensaver valt frauduleuze websites aan
Eind vorig jaar kwam Lycos met een "ludieke actie" om spammers het leven zuur te maken. Via een speciale DDoS screensaver werden websites die in spam e-mails geadverteerd werden, overladen met requests, waardoor ze nauwelijks meer functioneerden. Het idee is overgenomen door de Artists Against 419. Hun Mugu Marauder screensaver downloadt achter elkaar plaatjes van scamwebsites, waardoor het bandbreedte gebruik van de site toeneemt, in de hoop dat dit de aandacht van de hostingpartij trekt. Vier websites die door de screensaver werden "aangevallen" zijn inmiddels offline. De overige 11 op de hitlist zijn nog wel bereikbaar.

Mar 03 2005 - NBC Nightly News: Fake banks lure customers online
At first glance, it looks much like any other Internet bank. Pearl Atlantic Credit & Trust says it offers loans, project financing and online banking, with deposits insured by the FDIC. There are even pictures of a CEO, Victor Bartruff, and other officers. [...] "Artists against 419," a grassroots consumer group which targets these scams, says the fake bank appears tied to an e-mail scam. "We probably find five or ten more a day on average," says a woman who volunteers at the group and asked that we not use her name. "We keep finding new ones."

Feb 28 2005 - Netcraft: Four Sites Targeted by Mugu Marauder Now Offline
When the Mugu Marauder was launched on Feb. 7, Netcraft began monitoring five sites on the list of target URLs published by Artists Against 419. Four of the five are now offline, with crownsecuritiesandfinance.com (removed from DNS) and www.firstglobaltrust.com (account terminated by web host) shutting down within days. [...] The 419-related banking sites differ from "phishing" scams in several aspects. While phishing sites impersonate a trusted financial brand, the sites targeted by anti-419 activists typically fabricate an institution to support the scam. These sites can remain online for extended periods ... the average life of a phishing scam ... has been estimated at 54 hours.

Feb 11 2005 - zdnet.com.au: Web vigilantes launch attacks
Internet vigilantes have launched a 48-hour bandwidth attack against spammers who defraud people online. The 419 Flash Mob, supported by Artists Against 419, has declared war on criminals who host fake bank Web sites in the hope of luring victims to deposit money there. The attacks began on Wednesday. A Web site statement from Artists Against 419 said, "This flash mob is in celebration of Chinese New Year... Our aim is to shut down eight fake bank web sites in less than 48 hours!"

Feb 09 2005 - Slashdot.org: Artists Against 419 Releases Mugu Marauder
An anonymous reader writes "Similar in scope to the (now defunct) screensaver created by Lycos that targeted spam sites, the newly-released Mugu Marauder is intended to take fraudulent bank sites off the air by sponging up their bandwidth. Mugu Marauder can be downloaded at www.aa419.org/mm/ It's currently only available for Windows, though a Linux port is allegedly in the works."

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