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Source: Europol
This major coordinated and complex law enforcement operation was carried out in several locations across France. More than 110 French police officers, including tactical and canine units, arrested 13 members of the criminal network. Supported by Europol and INTERPOL analysts and in coordination with international police forces, law enforcement took the two main network coordinators in France, logisticians and car…
Source: Europol
In 2020, law enforcement officers detected a number of suspicious online bets on international table tennis tournaments. Subsequent analysis led to the identification of a criminal network composed of Bulgarian and Romanian nationals, established in Spain, who were corrupting athletes mainly from these two same nationalities. The suspects targeted competitions mainly outside of Spain, while the leader of the organisation…
Source: Europol
Malware-based cyber-attacks, specifically ransomware, remain the most prominent threat. These attacks can attain a broad reach and have a significant financial impact on industry. Europol’s spotlight report takes an in-depth look at the nature of malware attacks as well as the ransomware groups’ business structures. The theft of sensitive data could establish itself as the central goal of cyber-attacks, thereby…
Source: Europol
Europol’s first ever threat assessment on the topic, ‘The other side of the coin: an analysis of financial and economic crime in the EU’, sheds a light on this system which, from the shadows, sustains the finances of criminals worldwide. The report is based on a combination of operational insights and strategic intelligence contributed to Europol by EU Member States…
Source: Europol
According to Europol’s Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment 2021, almost 70% of criminal networks are active in three or more countries. In the EU alone, there are over 180 nationalities involved in organised crime activities. Additionally, nearly two-thirds of criminal groups are composed of members of different nationalities. As these criminal threats continue to grow beyond national…
Source: Europol
Award for operational analysis targeting DDoS attacks The first category awards an analyst, or team of analysts, for delivering outstanding operational analysis. The winning analysis shed light on an investigation targeting criminal activity that fell within Europol’s mandate. The award for Operational Analyst 2023 went to the Cybercrime Investigations Team of the Regional Criminal Police in Hessen, Germany (Hessisches Landeskriminalamt)…
Source: Europol
In January 2022, the Belgrade Department of the Serbian Criminal Police initiated an investigation into this drug cartel, believed to be involved in the wholesale trafficking of cocaine from South America to the EU. The law enforcement activities against this network extended to authorities across the EU and beyond, resulting in a large international investigation coordinated by Europol. The targeted…
Source: Europol
Headline: Two arrested in France for major CEO fraud
House searches in France have led to the arrests of two individuals suspected of large-scale CEO fraud. The criminals belonged to an organised crime group involved in at least 24 cases of CEO fraud causing EUR 4.6 million worth of damage. With the support of Europol, the French National Gendarmerie carried out the searches in Paris and Lille and made the subsequent arrests on 20 February 2018.
Source: Europol
Headline: Free data recovery kit for victims of GandCrab ransomware now available on No More Ransom
As of today, a new decryption tool for victims of the GandCrab ransomware is available on www.nomoreransom.org. This tool has been released by the Romanian Police (IGPR) under the supervision of the General Prosecutor’s Office (DIICOT) and in collaboration with the internet security company Bitdefender and Europol.
First detected one month ago, GandCrab has already made 50 000 victims worldwide, a vast number of which in Europe, making it one of the most aggressive forms of ransomware so far this year.
Source: Europol
Headline: You have identified 70 objects taken from child sexual abuse images
We still need your help with 25 new objects uploaded to Europol’s website today
This morning Europol uploaded 25 new objects to its Stop Child Abuse – Trace an Object webpage. The objects are all taken from the background of child sexual abuse images. Since the launch of this project, where we ask the general public for information about the origin of the objects, you have sent us more than 18 300 tips. This information was carefully processed by Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) and has proven to be extremely useful. Thanks to your information, 70 objects have been identified.
Of those 70 objects, 25 were identified to one or a reasonable number of likely countries of production. This means that we are almost certain that the image containing child sexual abuse was produced in those countries. All of your tips for these 25 objects have been transmitted to these countries and several investigations are currently ongoing. These investigations are very complex and can take months, even years, but these tips are very important as they can be the vital clue that acts as the starting point for an investigation or links other pieces of evidence.
The other 45 objects you identified have unfortunately not led to a specific location because they are present in a large number of countries all over the world. These identifications are still extremely useful for law enforcement because they eliminate an investigative trail. That alone allows the investigators to spend more time and resources on other leads with a higher potential for success.
Europol and its law enforcement partners would like to thank everyone who has taken the effort to visit www.europol.europa.eu/stopchildabuse and is equally committed to tracing these objects and ultimately helping to stop child abuse.