An action day performed in Latvia on 10 October 2025 led to the arrest of five cybercriminals of Latvian nationality and the seizure of infrastructure used to enable crimes against thousands of victims across Europe.
During the operation codenamed ‘SIMCARTEL’, law enforcement arrested two further suspects, took down five servers and seized 1 200 SIM box devices alongside 40 000 active SIM cards. Investigators from Austria, Estonia and Latvia, together with their colleagues at Europol und Eurojust, were able to attribute to the criminal network more than 1 700 individual cyber fraud cases in Austria and 1 500 in Latvia, with a total loss of several million euros. The financial loss in Austria alone amounts to around EUR 4.5 million, as well as EUR 420 000 in Latvia.
Read more…
Source: Europol
Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- UK: Water group made loss in wake of cyber attack
February 19, 2024
The Walsall-headquartered integrated serviced group, which operates South Staffordshire Water and Cambridge Water, posted a pre-tax loss of £23.1 million for the year to the end of March from a £7.6m profit a year earlier. The losses was put down to the impact of rising costs including on energy and chemicals, higher than expected water production ...
- Dead Man’s Fingers maker cuts over 500 jobs and enters the red after cyber attack hits sales
February 16, 2024
The maker of Crabbie’s Ginger Beer and Dead Man’s Fingers spiced rum shed more than 500 jobs and entered the red after its sales were hit by a cyber attack, it has been revealed. Halewood Artisanal Spirts, whose brands also include Whitley Neill Gin, Liverpool Gin and Samuel Gelton’s Irish whiskey, has posted a turnover of ...
- Spyware startup Variston is losing staff – some say it’s closing
February 15, 2024
In July 2022, someone sent Google a batch of malicious code that could be used to hack Chrome, Firefox, and PCs running Microsoft Defender. That code was part of an exploitation framework called Heliconia. And at the time, the exploits used to target those applications were zero-days, meaning the software makers were unaware of the bugs, ...
- Banks refund less than 10% of money stolen by cyber scammers – Bank of Russia’s Chief
February 15, 2024
Russian banks manage to refund less than 10% of the money cyber scammers steal from citizens’ accounts, head of the Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina, said at the Cybersecurity in Finance forum. “Of course, we see that the share of refunds to people who were victims of cyber fraud has increased. But the exact figures – ...
- UK: Contact details and national security numbers could have been stolen from Southern Water customers following cyber attack
February 12, 2024
The announcement, which went live on Southern Water’s website earlier today (February 12), confirms that ‘a limited part’ of the company’s server estate is at risk following an illegal intrusion earlier this year. Apologising for the breach, a spokesperson confirmed that the company is working with “expert technical advisers to confirm who is at risk,” and ...
- Every tenth Russian faced cybercriminals in 2023 – Bank of Russia
February 7, 2024
Every tenth Russian respondent experienced cybercrime, with losses not exceeding 20,000 rubles (around $220), according to the published results of a survey conducted by the Bank of Russia in 2023. “Last year, there were more people who faced cybercriminals, with every tenth person becoming a victim. Typically, the loss was less than 20,000 rubles. Victims usually ...