Swiss Charge 3 Suspects Arrested in Thailand for Global Phishing Case

Photo: frankieleon / Flickr

GENEVA — Swiss prosecutors say they’ve charged three people accused of illegally obtaining data on at least 133,600 credit cards with computer fraud following their extradition from Thailand.

The Swiss attorney general’s office said Tuesday that the group for years earned a living from the unlawful procurement and fraudulent online use of credit card data. It said that “credit card holders around the world and Swiss financial institutions” were affected.

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The three allegedly obtained the data through so-called phishing attacks, using emails, websites and text messages.

Prosecutors say they operated from October 2009 until they were arrested in 2014 and 2015 in Bangkok. They were then extradited to Switzerland, where they are currently in pretrial custody.

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The Swiss say it’s the first indictment in the country in a global phishing case.