Summarised by Centrist
An SMS message phishing scam, which targeted hundreds of thousands of victims and was used by more than 2000 criminals, has been busted with the help of New Zealand Police.
The Police announced New Zealand’s participation in a major international operation named Operation Camperdown. It involved collaboration with Europol and focused on dismantling the “phishing as a service” online platform, LabHost.
LabHost facilitated the creation of phishing websites that mimic legitimate online services, which criminals used to steal sensitive information such as banking and online account credentials.
The New Zealand Police Cybercrime Unit reported that the local phase of the operation included search warrants at three locations in Auckland.
The raids led to the seizure of numerous computers, electronic devices, and documents. These materials are currently being analysed as part of the ongoing investigation.
Three suspected users of LabHost were arrested during these operations.
According to Police:
“Europol coordinated actions by law enforcement agencies worldwide, beginning with the arrest of the administrators of the platform on 15 April 2024 followed by arrests of LabHost users around the world.”
This coordinated effort, spearheaded by Europol, has been built on extensive intelligence gathered since 2022.
The investigation remains active, with further arrests anticipated.
