A criminal group that mass-distributed phishing messages to seize personal data and money of Kazakh citizens has been detained. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Sputnik Kazakhstan.
According to the Financial Monitoring Agency, in January of this year, a citizen of one of the Southeast Asian countries recruited a local resident for a monetary reward to organize illegal activities on the territory of Kazakhstan. Later, other people who ensured the operation of equipment in Astana joined the criminal scheme.
The suspects used an SMS blaster. This is a device that imitates the operation of a mobile base station, allowing mass distribution of messages bypassing operators' filtering systems.
150 thousand phishing SMS
Within four days, about 150 thousand phishing SMS messages with offers to exchange bonuses on behalf of well-known companies were sent to subscribers of Beeline, Kcell and Activ operators.
«"Users who followed the link were redirected to a fake website, where they were asked to enter personal and banking data, including payment card details, CVV code and confirmation code sent via SMS," the agency reported.»
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Thus, the suspects gained access to citizens' confidential information and funds in their bank accounts.
Investigation progress
During the investigation, it was established that the confiscated SMS blaster is a special technical tool intended for conducting operational-search activities and covert investigative actions.
A pre-trial investigation has been initiated under Part 2 of Article 399 of the Criminal Code - "Illegal manufacture, production, purchase, sale or use of special technical means intended for covert obtaining of information".
Currently, four suspects have been detained. The investigation is ongoing.