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US and Romanian authorities have busted a gang of 38 people who are part of a global phishing network.

Phishing is an attempt to criminally and fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.
According to US Department of Justice the gang sent more than 1.3 million spam emails in just one phishing attack. Unwitting users who clicked on links contained in spam emails sent by the gang were directed to a website designed to collect passwords and banking details.

Phishers would then pass data to cashiers in USA via chat messages who recorded the stolen data onto the magnetic strip on blank credit and debit cards.

After that other members of the gang would test the cards at ATMs by making balance requests or withdrawing small amounts of money.

Once proven to work, the cards would be used to withdraw the maximum amount of money possible. A proportion of the stolen money was then wired back to Romania.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos said:

This was a highly organised scheme using the internet to steal money from individuals and financial institutions across continents.