The online sportsbook industry is breathing a little easier today.
Key members of a Russian gang involved in extorting money from online books were arrested Tuesday in a joint operation between the UK's National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) and its counterparts in Russia.
Suspected of running a global protection racket netting hundreds of thousands of dollars from online sportsbooks, three men were picked up in a series of raids both in St Petersburg, and in the Saratov and Stavropol regions in southwest Russia.
For the time being, the men, aged 21, 23 and 24, will not be extradited to the UK but will instead be subject to Russian law. They have yet to be formally charged. Further arrests are possible, according to the NHTCU.
The extortions took place following Denial of Service (DoS) attacks on a sportsbook's servers and websites. The attacks bombarded the servers with thousands of messages (packets of data), effectively shutting down a book and costing it millions of dollars in lost business.
The gang then sent email demands, asking for money to be paid to the blackmailers to stop the attack for one year, when they would then return for more. The sums typically demanded ranged from $30,000 to $40,000.
Bookies in the Caribbean, Central America and the UK have been subject to attacks and demands for money since at least October 2003, and officers from the UK's National Hi-Tech Crime Unit have been working closely with their Russian counterparts to track down and arrest the criminals.
"The success of this operation is built on the foundation of international partnerships between law enforcement and business. The more we work together in the fight against organized crime, the safer the UK will be for business," said Detective Chief Superintendent Len Hynds, Head of the NHTCU.
"Thanks to the response of all the parties involved, we have helped to dismantle a determined group of organized criminals. The clear message we are sending is that if you attack firms based in the UK, we will find you and stop you."
As part of the investigation, 10 members of the gang were arrested in Riga, Latvia, last November 2003. Through these arrests, officers were able to identify the financial trail which led to the gangsters arrested yesterday in Russia.
The cash was being transferred by a number of money transfer agencies who helped the NHTCU track the money and thereby identified members of the gang.
This investigation was also assisted by law enforcement and government agencies from Australia, Canada, Estonia and the USA, as well as from businesses in the UK and abroad.
This week's arrests follow a complaint lodged by Canbet last October after the British-based sportsbook was forced to pay protection money to prevent its website from being attacked.
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