Since it was up and running, a huge scam website that hackers could use to get people to give them personal information like passwords and email addresses was stopped by police.
Metropolitan Police in Britain said the website was called LabHost and that 2,000 thieves used it to steal personal information from people. At this point, the cops have found at least 70,000 people who have been scammed by this scam, and 37 people have been arrested in connection with it.
A police message on the website says that the website has been taken over by police and they are now in charge of it. Also, they’ve called tens of thousands of people to let them know that their information has been stolen.
The cops say that LabHost had more than 400,000 credit card numbers, more than 60,000 PIN codes, and more than a million passwords.
A group of hackers set up LabHost a few years ago to trick people into giving up personal information like bank account information and important passwords. They mostly do this by making fake websites that let them get this information. Criminals often made websites that looked real or copied well-known websites like those for banks or healthcare companies.
“Online thieves think they can get away with it,” says Dame Lynne Owens, who was involved in the operation as the Metropolitan Police Service’s deputy commissioner. “They believe they can hide behind digital identities and platforms like LabHost and are sure that law enforcement can’t get into these sites,” she said.
Owens said that this showed “how law enforcement worldwide can and will come together with one another and private sector partners to dismantle international fraud networks at source.” A lot of private companies worked together to bring down LabHost.
