Cyber bandits 'cost British bookies €60.5m'

Russian police have broken up an internet hacker ring that extorted money from British bookmakers, inflicting millions of pounds in losses on their websites in a series of attacks.

The suspects flooded online betting sites with false requests for information in so-called “denial of service” attacks.

They would then send e-mails demanding money for stopping the attacks, said Yevgeny Yakimovich, the chief of the Russian Interior Ministry’s Department K for fighting cyber-crimes.

Yakimovich said the gang had caused about £40m (€60.5m) in damages to British bookmakers.

“Their goal was to paralyse a company’s work,” he said in Moscow today

British police announced the break-up of the extortion ring last week.

Most victims declined to report the threats to the police, fearing bad publicity, Yakimovich said.

Valery Syzrantsev, the head of the Interior Ministry’s Chief Investigating Department, said the hackers targeted nine betting companies, attacking each of them between three to five times and extorting between £3,000 (€4,500) to £30,000 (€45,400).

“Two companies, which suffered especially big losses, agreed to pay £22,000 (€33,300) each,” Syzrantsev said. He refused to say how the payments were made and he declined to name the companies.

Bookmakers were the most convenient prey because the attacks could be timed to major sport events, Syzrantsev said.

“This case was so significant for Britain and it inflicted such a damage that it reached prime minister’s desk,” Yakimovich said.

British and Russian cyber-detectives tracked down the attacks to several Russian cities and Russian police last week arrested two suspects and seized computers and software in Moscow, St Petersburg and the Volga River’s Saratov region.

Two suspects remained in custody and investigators were working to track down other members of the group, Syzrantsev said.

The suspects could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted of extortion, he said.

The Interior Ministry said that the ring also had launched attacks on unidentified British banks.

The ministry also said the gang included residents of other nations. Yakimovich said that several suspects had been briefly detained in Latvia last November, but would not elaborate.

Syzrantsev said the ring consisted of well-educated people aged 20-21 who had found each on the internet and agreed to work together in the extortion.

“There was no chief organiser in plain terms, each of them did his bit of work,” he said. “And they didn’t consider themselves criminals.”