A British man is wanted in the US over his alleged key role in an international gang behind a £380 million cyber fraud as America's Department of Justice launches its
largest ever cyber fraud prosecution.
Anthony Nnamdi Okeakpu, 29, was arrested by British police on behalf of US authorities for allegedly being a key member of the Infraud Organisation.
The gang is accused of targeting British bank customers.
Mr Okeakpu, from London, is one of 36 suspects from across the globe indicted over their roles within the group, which is said to have committed "large-scale acquisition, sale and dissemination" of stolen identities, debit and credit cards and other sensitive information.
One advert posted on Infraud's online forum in 2011 claimed to have 795,000 log-ins for British customers of HSBC, the indictment says.
The alleged cyber criminal from Britain, who used aliases including "Aslike1", "Aslike", "Moneymafia" and "Shilonng", could face up to 20 years in a US jail if he is extradited, the country's authorities say.
The US Department of Justice described the operation as "one of the largest cyber fraud enterprise prosecutions" it had ever undertaken.
Deputy Assistant Attorney General David Rybicki said Mr Okeakpu was arrested in the UK and faces racketeering conspiracy charges.
"He joined the organisation in 2010 - he was a VIP member, he was promoted to that level by one of the administrators and leaders of the organisation, Svyatoslav Bondarenko," he said.
"Okeakpu was promoted to VIP member status in April 2014.
"He also held other posts in the organisation, among those were moderator and super-moderator.
"We discuss at length the structure of the organisation and the hierarchical organisation that it had in terms of administrators and vendors and other members like Okeakpu who were moderators of certain forums that were featured on the website."
British man arrested in largest US cuber fraud prosecution. CREDIT: AP
Super moderators on the site "oversaw and administered specific subject matter areas within their expertise", according to US authorities.
A VIP member used the forum to gather information to "facilitate their criminal activities".
Under the slogan "in fraud we trust", Infraud attempted to inflict £1.5 billion of losses on financial institutions, businesses and individuals over seven years, it is alleged.
Its members allegedly defrauded victims of more than £380 million after it targeted more than 4.3 million debit cards, credit cards and bank accounts globally.
The criminal group operated from an online forum , through which users could offer or buy illicit services, including malware capable of data breaches.
Infraud is said to have 10,901 registered members and was founded by Mr Bondarenko, a 34-year-old Ukranian man.
A total of 13 arrests have been made so far in the US, Australia, France, Italy, Kosovo, Serbia and the UK.
Mr Rybicki added: "Infraud was truly the premiere, one-stop shop for cyber criminals worldwide.
"Members used the forum to co-ordinate and commit online crimes including identity theft, bank fraud, wire fraud and computer crimes.
"That makes this case one of the largest cyber fraud enterprise prosecutions ever undertaken by the Department of Justice.
"This case reflects the alarming and increasing threat posed by cyber crime.