Cops reel in mastermind of phishing template racket

KUALA LUMPUR: A man from Sabah has allegedly been selling phishing templates on the dark web for US$100 (RM468) each.

Some templates advertised on a website the suspect hosts include the impersonating login pages of well-known brands and email providers.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said police crippled the syndicate involved following a series of raids on Monday (Nov 6).

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"We conducted simultaneous raids in Sabah, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Perak and arrested eight suspects, including the 36-year-old mastermind.

"We also seized a server and computers as well as funds of nearly RM1mil in an ewallet account," he told reporters on Wednesday (Nov 8).

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He said based on investigations, the syndicate was also linked to two investment scams, which had led to over RM1.2mil in losses.

"We received 37 reports concerning the two investment scams linked to this syndicate.

"We believe the suspect was selling these phishing templates online to other syndicates.

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"Upon further investigation, we found 1,038 login and password credentials," he said, adding that the syndicate also sold these credentials on the dark web.

He said the syndicate was believed to have started operating in 2015 but became more active last year.