Phishing gang with 24 members convicted

23 December 2015

In 2012 and 2013, Belgium saw a sharp rise in phishing and vishing offences. By sending mails – supposedly from the victims’ bank – criminals tried to fish for their online banking credentials (phishing). Then, they called the victims to persuade them into giving their security code (vishing).

There were many links to the Netherlands and therefore a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) was established between Belgium, the Netherlands, Eurojust and Europol. In 2014, simultaneous house searches led to several arrests. In 2015, 23 of the 24 defendants were found guilty of phishing by the Correctional Court of Mechelen. The main defendant was sentenced to 10 years’ unconditional imprisonment. Furthermore, substantial fines were imposed and a sum of EUR 440,000 was confiscated.