NOS News•today, 07:47•Amended today, 08:41
Lists with millions of unique email addresses have been found in a suspected fraud gang. The suspects are said to have used these lists to send phishing emails on a large scale. It contains five million Dutch email addresses.
Phishing is a form of scam in which you receive an email that appears to be from an official body, such as a bank or government agency. In reality, it is an email that has been counterfeited by criminals. They want to convince you to enter information online so that they can then scam you. The emails and fake sites are sometimes barely distinguishable from the real thing.
Bank helpdesk
At the end of January, the police arrested six suspects for such fraud. They allegedly stole more than 70,000 euros from thirty victims through so-called bank helpdesk fraud.
According to the police, the six sent these types of phishing emails on a large scale, which closely resembled real emails from the Chamber of Commerce or DigiD. When victims left information via these emails, they were usually called a day later by ‘a bank employee’ informing them that they had been hacked. They were then instructed to install a program that could be used to control a computer remotely, allowing the criminals to siphon off tens of thousands of euros via internet banking.
Check email address
After the arrests, the police have now found several lists on the laptop of one of the suspects containing 7.3 million unique email addresses, of which 5 million are from the Netherlands.
“We were surprised about that too,” says Iris Koster of the digital crime team at the police. “These are enormous lists. That also makes us extra concerned that they are still being abused.”
The fact that the suspects have been arrested does not mean that these lists of addresses have disappeared. Criminals sell them on and others use them to send new fake emails.
The police have a site where people can check whether their email address is also on the list found. If so, they will receive a police email with tips on what to do against phishing.
This matter came to light because a report was filed. But not everyone does that when they fall victim to phishing. “There is often a bit of shame behind it,” says Koster of the police. “People think: how could I be so stupid? That is very worrying, because yes, it can happen to anyone, so you really don’t have to be ashamed.”
