US seizes call spoofing site that stole millions

SAN FRANCISCO: The US authorities have seized call spoofing website iSpoof that stole $120 million from the victims.

iSpoof, which said it has been taken over by the FBI and the US Secret Service, provided "spoofing" services that allowed paying customers to conceal their phone numbers by using trusted organisations, like banks or tax offices, in order to conduct social engineering attacks, reports TechCrunch.

"The services of the website allowed those who sign up and pay for the service to anonymously make spoofed calls, send recorded messages, and intercept one-time passwords," European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, Europol, was quoted as saying in the report.

"The users were able to impersonate an infinite number of entities for financial gain and substantial losses to victims," it added.

The call spoofing website had around 59,000 users. According to Europol, the service's operators made an estimated $3.8 million in earnings in just the last 16 months.

The police said it will reach out to potential victims using a list of phone numbers that iSpoof fraudsters have targeted.

"Instead of just taking down the website and arresting the administrator, we have gone after the users of iSpoof. Our message to criminals who have used this website is: we have your details and are working hard to locate you, regardless of where you are," said Helen Rance of the Metropolitan Police Cyber Crime Unit.