Working with partners in law enforcement, industry and government, the National Crime Agency (NCA) coordinated an intensive period of UK-wide action against cyber crime.
This has resulted in 57 people being arrested in 25 separate operations in connection with a variety of offences including; distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, internet fraud, phishing attacks, intellectual property theft, and malware.
All of the arrests were as a result of reports made to Action Fraud and assessment by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB).
Operational activity took place across England, Scotland and Wales and saw officers deployed from the NCA’s National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU), Metropolitan Police and Regional Organised Crime Unit’s (ROCUs) associated with local forces around the UK.
The week also involved a pioneering approach in helping small and medium enterprises, hosting companies and ISPs identify threats on their infrastructure.
During this activity last week, Action Fraud was present at cyber-security pop-up shops in London, Reading, Derby and Manchester. At these pop-up shops people were encouraged to bring along their digital devices for a free health check and to get advice on online banking, virus protection and protecting themselves online.
The pop-up shops enabled people to get advice from a range of cyber experts from law enforcement bodies, banks, cyber security firms and information services.
Andy Archibald, Deputy Director of the NCA’s National Cyber Crime Unit, said: “These arrests around the country this week are a result of the essential partnership activity with law enforcement, industry and government that is at the heart of fighting cybercrime.
“Criminals need to realise that committing crime online will not make them anonymous to law enforcement. We are continuously working to track down and apprehend those seeking to utilise computers for criminal ends, and to disrupt the technical networks and infrastructures supporting international cyber crime.
“It’s imperative that we continue to work with partners to pursue and disrupt the major crime groups targeting the UK, but also, crucially, work to make sure that people have the knowledge and resources to make the UK as inhospitable as possible for cyber criminals in the first place.”
For further information on the arrests, visit NCA website.
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If you’ve lost money or information or your computer has been taken over by a phishing or malware attack report it to Action Fraud.