"Britain holds 19 in bank hacking; Police say at least $9.5m stolen" by Gregory Katz, Associated Press | September 29, 2010
LONDON — Scotland Yard’s special electronic crimes unit yesterday arrested 19 people suspected of draining millions of dollars from British banks by hacking into accounts.
Police said they were tracking at least $9.5 million that had been stolen from UK banks in the last three months after thousands of customers’ online accounts were hacked. They said this figure is expected to increase significantly as the investigation expands.
Investigators said thousands of personal computers in the United Kingdom have been infected with malicious computer codes including one Trojan virus known as Zeus that has allowed criminal gangs to get personal login details and access bank accounts so that money can be transferred to accounts under criminal control.
“We believe we have disrupted a highly organized criminal network, which has used sophisticated methods to siphon large amounts of cash from many innocent peoples’ accounts, causing immense personal anxiety and significant financial harm — which of course banks have had to repay at considerable cost to the economy,’’ Detective Chief Inspector Terry Wilson said.
And yet they need cameras on every street corner.
Related: The Russian-Israeli Mafia: Off-limits to FBI, US intelligence
Police say the Trojan poses a worldwide threat and is increasingly used to gain illegal access to bank accounts....
I'm glad there is next-to-nothing in mine.
LONDON — The Bank of England will increase its emergency bond-purchase plan by $160 billion to aid the economy as the government cuts spending, the Centre for Economics and Business Research said.
Related: British Tighten Their Belts
The central bank will also keep its benchmark interest rate at a record low of 0.5 percent until at least late 2012, the London-based group said in an e-mailed statement. The bank kept its stimulus plan at $320 billion this month.
Britain faces the largest spending cuts since World War II as the government tackles a record budget deficit.
The British Chambers of Commerce earlier this month backed a call by policy maker Adam Posen for the central bank to expand its bond stimulus plan, because recent data indicate the recovery has slowed....
Sound familiar, Americans?
--more--"
