Pretending to be the police, the suspects computers crippled by a virus and told their owners that illegal online activities was detected and a fine shall be paid to unlock their computers, Europol announced in Madrid.
Investigators said they had identified up to 48 variants of the virus, which usually installs itself by encouraging users to download a malicious executable deposited via social engineering message.
The gang demanded fines of 100 pounds ($ 134), at least 3 percent of the victims paid Europol Director Rob Wainwright during a news conference in Madrid, according to Reuters.
"It is impossible to know with certainty how many people were affected by this, but we believe that hundreds of thousands of Europeans were," Wainwright said, adding that the gang had invoked his name in its activities. " Taking into account that the average fine was 100 euros and 3 percent ... it paid off, then the damage is estimated at millions of dollars. "the alleged leader of the network - a Russian 27 years - was arrested in the United Arab Emirates in December, said Francisco Martinez, Spanish Secretary of State security. Ten other suspects, six Russians, two Ukrainians and two Georgians were arrested on Sol Spain's Costa del, a popular tourist destination on the Mediterranean coast.
The virus was first detected two years ago after about 20,000 infected computers in six countries. The network would eventually spread to 30 countries, investigators said.
The Spanish government announced that it had received more than 75
