Tuesday, July 1, 2025
spot_img

Manila says arrested hackers funded by Saudi group

Date:

Share post:

spot_imgspot_img

MANILA/BOSTON: Philippine police and the FBI have arrested four people over a hacking operation that targeted customers of US telecommunications giant AT&T to funnel money to a Saudi-based militant group.

Those arrested on Wednesday in Manila were paid by the same group the Federal Bureau of Investigation accuses of having funded the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai, the Philippines’ Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) said.

The hacking activity resulted in almost $2 million in losses incurred by AT&T, the CIDG said in a statement.

Police in the Philippines said money from the scams was diverted to accounts of a Saudi-based group that was not identified. India blames Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba for carrying out the attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people.

FBI spokeswoman Jenny Shearer said hackers targeted customers of AT&T, not the carrier itself. She declined to give details, saying the agency does not discuss investigations.

Hackers broke into the phone systems of some AT&T customers and made calls to expensive international premium-rate services, according to a person familiar with the situation who was not authorized to discuss it publicly.

Such scams are relatively common, often involving bogus premium-service phone lines set up across Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia. Fraudsters make calls to the numbers from hacked business phone systems or mobile phones then collect their cash and move on before the activity is identified. Telecommunications carriers often end up footing the bill for the charges.

Jan Rasmussen, a spokeswoman for AT&T, said it wrote off some fraudulent charges that appeared on customer bills. (Reuters)

spot_imgspot_img

Related articles

Full of failures, frauds, false claims: Cong chief Kharge on 10 years of Digital India

New Delhi, July 1: On the day the Modi government's flagship 'Digital India' initiative completed ten years, Congress...

India urges Pakistan to expedite release and repatriation of Indian prisoners, including fishermen

New Delhi, July 1: India on Tuesday called for an early release and repatriation of civilian prisoners, including...

Congress will ban RSS again if party comes to power at Centre, says Priyank Kharge

Bengaluru, July 1: Karnataka Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, IT and BT, Priyank Kharge, has stirred...

India, US may sign interim trade agreement this week: Report

New Delhi, July 1: India is on course to finalise an interim trade agreement with the US as...