193 Cybercrims Arrested, Accused of Plotting 'Violence-As-a-Service' 19
Europol's GRIMM taskforce has arrested nearly 200 people accused of running or participating in "violence-as-a-service" schemes where cybercrime groups recruit youth online for real-world attacks. "These individuals are groomed or coerced into committing a range of violent crimes, from acts of intimidation and torture to murder," the European police said on Monday. The Register reports: GRIMM began in April, and includes investigators from Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the UK, plus Europol experts and online service providers. During its first six months, police involved in this operation arrested 63 people directly involved in carrying out or planning violent crimes, 40 "enablers" accused of facilitating violence-for-hire services, 84 recruiters, and six "instigators," five of whom the cops labeled "high-value targets." [...]
Many of the criminals involved in recruiting and carrying out these violence-for-hire services are also members of The Com. This is a loosely knit gang, primarily English speakers, involved in several interconnected networks of hackers, SIM swappers, and extortionists. Their reach has spread across the Atlantic, and over the summer, the FBI warned that a subset of this cybercrime group, called In Real Life (IRL) Com, poses a growing threat to youth. The FBI's security bulletin specifically called out IRL Com subgroups that offer swat-for-hire services, in which hoaxers falsely report shootings at someone's residence or call in bomb threats to trigger massive armed police responses at the victims' homes.
Many of the criminals involved in recruiting and carrying out these violence-for-hire services are also members of The Com. This is a loosely knit gang, primarily English speakers, involved in several interconnected networks of hackers, SIM swappers, and extortionists. Their reach has spread across the Atlantic, and over the summer, the FBI warned that a subset of this cybercrime group, called In Real Life (IRL) Com, poses a growing threat to youth. The FBI's security bulletin specifically called out IRL Com subgroups that offer swat-for-hire services, in which hoaxers falsely report shootings at someone's residence or call in bomb threats to trigger massive armed police responses at the victims' homes.
Anytime you do stuff like this... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Anytime you do stuff like this... (Score:4, Funny)
Should ICE just have bought them out?
Re: (Score:3)
ICE does not need to. They probably helped finger these crims to remove competition. la Presidenta now has his own Gestapo combined with the FBI and "Justice" Dept. to wreak havoc on anyone that looks at him wrong. There is no moral or ethical bar low enough that he cannot find a way to limbo under it.
Re: Well I read the entire "article"... (Score:1)
What if bans increase violence because rather than fighting with their words, you get them to fight with sticks and stones?
Re: Well I read the entire "article"... (Score:1)
How's that working out for society?
Re: (Score:1)
you get them to fight with sticks and stone
Good. Because that's a chargeable offense. Words are not.
We need to do something about the kind of personality that says "If you don't let me do {thing}, I'll escalate and do {even_worse_thing}." Society needs protection from people like that. And if it means incarceration, so be it.
Re: Well I read the entire "article"... (Score:1)
Seeing as we just elected a President that resembles your remark, after trying to ban him, are you on the wrong side of history?
Do you really think slashdot post-throttling me will save your society from rising suicides? What if this is more about you just wanting to protect your fragile ego from cognitive dissonance?
Re: (Score:3)
I'm in Europe now and there was a spate of arson attacks a couple of months ago, sometimes hitting the same target multiple times. Some of these attacks were unsolved AFAIK but in cases where they managed to get hold of the "perps", most (or all) of them were teenagers from the Netherlands who had been trained and then driven to near the targetted building with the materials they needed to carry out the attacks.
Re: Well I read the entire "article"... (Score:1)
What if they'd been allowed to post angry violent words online, and I was allowed to respond to every post with Gandhian responses, and waste away their time in online trolling rather than doing real-life violence?
If you ban them do they just double down and get more violent, like Trump?
Re: (Score:2)
Can you write the solution you have in mind without sounding like an UK leader or the big brother?
Rebranding crime (Score:2)
Hackers are now "security researchers", conmen are "social engineers", burglars are "pentesters" and now hitmen are "violence as a service enterpreneurs". Turns out organized just needed a hip new image!
lol (Score:2)
"This is a loosely knit gang, primarily English speakers.." :)
Is this the new euphemism?
>damn "English speakers" groomed and raped my 14 yo daughter. I can't say anything lest I wind up in prison for a bias crime myself.