Interpol arrests three Indonesians for spreading Magecart skimmer malware

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International police forces in Indonesia, together with the national investigation service, have arrested three men suspected of making and sending the Magecart malware. That is malware that is placed on web shops and that skims credit card information.

The arrests took place before Christmas, but the police only announced the arrests now. The arrests were made by Interpol in conjunction with Indonesia’s National Police. Three suspects, aged 23, 27 and 35, have been arrested from the vicinity of the capital Jakarta. Police said during the press conference that it is likely that more gang members were active with Magecart and that this was only the first step in a larger operation against the gang.

The three suspects were involved in a Magecart gang. Magecart is a credit card skimmer that consists of a piece of JavaScript code. It is installed at web shops and then steals data from customers who pay there. According to Interpol, the criminals used the stolen payment details to buy goods that they then sold on Indonesian online marketplaces for a lower price. This mainly concerned electronics and luxury goods. The arrests were part of a larger operation called Night Fury. Police forces from mainly Asian countries worked together to locate and seize command-and-control servers. The suspects are said to have managed those servers.

Interpol cooperated with several security companies during the operation. The Singaporean Group-IB, among others, collaborated with the investigative services. According to that company, the gang has infected a total of hundreds of websites with the Magecart malware. The criminals allegedly used VPNs to access the c&c servers, some of which are still active.

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