Two nationals of the Republic of Congo have been arrested by police in Vienna after stealing approximately €130,000/$177,000 from a victim's bank account.
It is not known what "bait" the two cybercriminals used to trap the victim, but it appears that the act was carried out through a phishing. Once they had the bank account details, the two fraudsters, aged 38 and 40, transferred the money to one of their accounts.
However, the bank's anti-fraud systems detected the large transaction, stopped the activity and sent an alert. The bank then notified the police and the two criminals were arrested.
According to Kronen Zeitung, the fraudsters tried to move part of the money (€48,000/$65,000) to a bank account in Portugal.
To prevent fraud, banks have protection mechanisms that are automatically activated when unusual transactions occur. In most cases, there is a transaction limit per account, which can be changed by the owner, who contacts the bank's representatives.
It seems that the two men from Congo were not aware of this and decided to transfer all the money at once.
The name of the bank remains confidential.
