Guardia Civil Estepona arrests cybercrime ringleader

Arrested by the Guardia Civil in Estepona, the ringleader of an international cybercrime network responsible for spreading ransomware.

The house of the 38-year-old man was raided by Guardia Civil officers in an international operation named ‘Seacatch-Weighhouse’ in collaboration with the FBI, the UK National Crime Agency, security services of Ukraine, the Judicial Police of Portugal and the Central Office against Cybercrime of Poland.

According to the Guardia Civil, a tip-off was received on Saturday, August 17 regarding the whereabouts of the suspect in relation to an ongoing investigation led by British and Singaporean police into the so-called ‘Ransom Cartel’ criminal organisation.

The detainee is accused of being the founder and head of the Ransom Cartel as well as being responsible for creating and distributing ransomware including CryptXXX and Cryptowall, among others.

Guardia Civil detainee accused of scams worth $34 million

Among the most profitable Malware discovered on the accused’s computers was Reveton, one of the first big scams by Ransom Cartel, which blocks the victim’s computer and displays a notification that appears to be from a police agency. The Guardia Civil claim that it could have obtained annual revenues of around $34 million. The organised crime outfit has also been accused of spreading the Angler Exploit Kit and millions of Euros in rackets resulting from its use by installing malware on victims’ devices. Another 28-year-old man is also being detained in connection with spreading the Angler Exploit Kit.