Early house raids on Wednesday, 28th of October 2018, lead to the arrest of three men aged 25, 35, and 36 in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England. They were accused of committing financial frauds totaling £1 million using stolen credit card information from the dark web.

The cyber-crime police force estimated that the group had made over 300 illegal purchases of various objects including copper piping, industrial lawn mowers, tires, and so on. The culprits were using stolen credit card information acquired over the deep web. Orders were then placed over the phone and collected in strategic locations throughout Rochdale.

The illegal activities took place from 2014 until 2018. The addresses targeted for the raid were Kensington Street, Lloyd Street, Clifford Street, and Baron Street.

Inspector Darren Callaghan, from Greater Manchester Police, declared that such practices placed many small and medium-sized businesses in ‘severe financial difficulty.’

Phil Larratt, from the National Crime Agency, declared that the investigation followed a data infiltration:

“A South East Regional Organised Crime Unit-led investigation identified an organized crime group responsible for using stolen payment card data to purchase over a million pounds worth of goods.
The NCA will continue to work closely with our police colleagues to relentlessly pursue those responsible for both cyber-dependent criminality and the subsequent incidents of fraud linked to the original data theft.”

The raid operation involved over 30 officers from different agencies and took months of investigative work.

Detective Inspector Rob Bryant urged businesses to evaluate and improve their data practices constantly.

“We often see companies which have their data stolen end up on the dark web and opportunist criminals look to benefit. I would like to take this opportunity to remind all businesses around their obligations to customers in protecting their data from cyber-criminals.

Should members of the local community have information or concerns regarding fraud-related offenses or information to contact Action Fraud at http://www.actionfraud.police.uk or 0300 123 2040.”