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By Nick Heath, 17 November 2009 13:08

NEWS

Four men have been sentenced to prison time for being part of a gang that stole just under £500,000 from UK bank customers.

The men were sentenced last Friday at Southwark Crown Court in London for their part in an international criminal network that stole the money from 138 account holders.

Azamat Rahmonov, Shohruh Fayziev, Joao Dos Santos Cruz and Paulo Jorgi were sentenced to a total of more than 13 years in prison, having pleaded guilty to charges relating to the case at an earlier hearing at Southwark Crown Court.

The gang were able to steal the money using a Trojan that transferred funds from victims to their own money laundering accounts.

Once users of PCs infected with the Trojan logged into genuine online bank accounts, the Trojan would insert a spoof banking webpage into their session, asking for personal and financial details.

The Trojan then used the information to create new transactions that sent money from the victim's account through a web of middlemen, known as money mules, to other members of the international criminal network in Eastern Europe and Russia.

The convictions of the gang members are the first to come out of an investigation by the Met's Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU), the £7m unit set up last year to tackle cybercrime.

PCeU officers first detected the fraud in January this year and worked with the financial services industry to investigate before arresting the gang in raids this April.

Detective constable Kevin Brocklesby of the PCeU said in a statement: "This was a complex investigation which certainly involves other people in Russia but there was a clear structure to the organisation in the UK.

"In order to withdraw the stolen cash a key element was to obtain UK bank accounts in which to deposit the funds. Plenty of people appear to be willing to accept money into their accounts with no questions asked and they are a crucial cog in this kind of criminal machine."

The convictions and sentences were:

• Azamat Rahmonov, from Scawen Road, Deptford, London sentenced to four and a half years for conspiracy to defraud and four and a half years for money laundering to run concurrently.
• Shohruh Fayziev, from Frome House, Peckham Rye, London, SE15, sentenced to four years for conspiracy to defraud and four years for possession of articles for use in fraud to run concurrently.
• Joao Dos Santos Cruz, from Malmsey House, Vauxhall Street, London, SE11, sentenced to 32 months for conspiracy to defraud, and four months possession of articles for use in fraud and possession of false and/or improperly obtained identity documents (a passport) to run consecutively (36 months total).
• Paolo Jorgi aka Ricardo Pereira, from King Edward's Road, Barking, sentenced to 21 months for money laundering.

A fifth man, Edgar Orlando Henriques, of Wiltshire Road, London, SW9, has also pleaded guilty to charges in relation to the gang's activities. He failed to appear at Southwark Crown Court on Friday for sentencing for two offences contrary to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. Anyone with information on his whereabouts should contact their local police station or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.