[funsec] Feds Move Against Online Trading Criminals

[Fergie]

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Via ABC News' "The Blotter".

[snip]

Customers of Merrill Lynch, E*Trade and other major online brokerage firms
are being targeted by a ring of Eastern European cybercriminals, federal
law enforcement officials tell ABC News.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said today it has moved against the
ring which they believe illegally accessed trading accounts at seven top
firms from computers in Russia, Latvia, Lithuania and the British Virgin
Islands.

Authorities say the ring took control of customers' investments and
switched them to penny stocks they controlled in order to temporarily drive
up their prices, ultimately leaving the investors with portfolios that were
worthless.

A federal judge yesterday evening agreed to an SEC request to freeze $3
million in an account at a U.S. branch of an Eastern European bank, which
investigators say belongs to the criminals. 

[snip]

More:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/03/feds_move_again.html

- - ferg

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--
"Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
 Engineering Architecture for the Internet
 fergdawg(at)netzero.net
 ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/