Khaberni - The Counselor Mohamed Shawki, the Egyptian Attorney General, issued a decision to refer five suspects to criminal trial for forming an international gang specialized in launching and managing electronic platforms for phishing services, in exchange for collecting money in cryptocurrencies, and targeting accounts owned by "Microsoft" and major financial institutions.
The investigations by the Egyptian Public Prosecution revealed that the accused managed organized criminal activity through the platforms "ONNX Store" and "Caffeine" to provide what is called "hacking as a service", which enabled their clients to carry out widespread attacks targeting specifically "Microsoft Office 365" systems and platform.
The technical examination showed that the accused established about 240 fraudulent sites, which were used to unlawfully capture data and digital accounts, causing disruption to information networks and degrading their efficiency, and inflicting severe financial losses on the victims.
Judicial Decrees and International Pursuits
The Mansoura Economic Court convicted the accused and sentenced them to prison terms ranging from two to three years, in addition to imposing monetary fines that exceeded one and a half million pounds, as well as confiscating the seized electronic devices and cryptocurrencies, and referring them for money laundering charges.
The prosecution based its investigations on open-source intelligence and the records of federal courts, which monitored a legal action against the main accused in the state of Virginia, USA. This helped in revealing his digital pseudonymous identity known as "MRxC0DER".
Global Ranking of the Most Dangerous
Technical reports issued by the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, in cooperation with the Digital Crimes Unit at "Microsoft", confirmed that one of the platforms associated with the accused is one of the top five most dangerous phishing platforms globally.
The investigation authorities succeeded in tracking digital fingerprints and linking the roles of the accused in financial support, technical operation, and managing the electronic wallets used for disguise and concealing evidence and crime proceeds.
