Overview
- Poland’s Central Bureau for Combating Cybercrime arrested four suspects Thursday in an operation supported by the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations and placed them in pre-trial detention.
- Investigators say the group used specialized software and social engineering to breach systems used by telecom partners and to access employee email accounts, which let them hijack phone numbers and intercept SMS codes.
- Prosecutors estimate the stolen funds laundered through personal bank accounts, international payment platforms, and multi-currency digital wallets exceed several tens of millions of Polish złoty.
- The suspects face charges of participating in an organized criminal group, hacking computer systems to steal assets, and money laundering, with potential prison terms up to 25 years.
- Authorities are withholding details on victims and targeted exchanges while the probe continues, and an independent on-chain investigator has publicly linked one detainee to the alias “Merry” without official confirmation.