New Suspect Arrested for UK Student Phishing Attack

A new suspect was arrested for a phishing attack that caused the theft of £1.5 million from UK-based students in 2011, according to Tech World. Police caught the alleged botnet creator on December 18 and may continue the investigation for further arrests.

Detectives picked up the 34 year-old Nigerian man in Manchester and confiscated several computers and phones for evidence. The suspect may have been involved in controlling the botnet that sent the phishing e-mails, according to police.

“We’ve made this arrest in connection with an ongoing investigation into offences which date back to 2011,” detective inspector Sanjiv Gohil of the MPS Cyber Crime Unit said. “This shows our utter commitment to pursuing those suspected of cyber crime. In this case, the victims are students and banks.”

Earlier this week, a significant member of the cyber-crime group was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison. Olajide Onikoyi was the fourth of 12 people arrested for the 2011 phishing attacks.

At the time, over 1,300 students were tricked into revealing their financial details on a website created by scammers, which resembled that of the Student Loans Company.

Police also said they are working “really closely” with the banking industry to locate cyber-criminals who make money at the expense of innocent, ordinary people.