Europol works with Polish police and eBay to beat fraudsters

The European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) at Europol joined forces with the Polish police and eBay to dismantle a ring of online fraudsters who were sending packages containing plants and bricks to their victims, according to Europol.

“This successful case is a perfect example of very effective cooperation between eBay, the Polish National Police and the EC3 in a crime that affected victims from more than 15 countries on three continents,” said EC3 head Troels Oerting, in a statement on the Europol website.

The EC3 described the criminals as “sophisticated” and praised the work of Polish investigators, as well as staff at eBay. The fraudsters were based in the Lublin and Pulawy regions of Poland but their victims lived in more than 15 countries across three continents including Poland, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Spain, UK, USA, Canada and India.

“By working together, sharing information and coordinating this investigation in multiple jurisdictions we have proven that the criminals might be able to run but they can’t hide,” declared Oerting.

The cybercriminals were conducting an e-commerce fraud where customers would purchase items online but, after making payment, receive deliveries of bricks or plants. Payments were transferred to unregistered cards and withdrawn as cash at ATMs. Many of the victims were customers of eBay, which conducted live monitoring of the suspects’ accounts from Dublin.

“Together with eBay and other companies operating online, and the hard-working cybercrime experts in the EU Member States and abroad, we will continue to optimise our investigative methods and put more criminals behind bars,” concluded Oerting.

Image courtesy of Europol