Romania's Internet Vampires Prey on the World
BUCHAREST, Romania — It was nearly 70 degrees below zero outside, but the e-mail on a computer at the South Pole Research Center sent a different kind of chill through the scientists inside.
"I've hacked into the server. Pay me off or I'll sell the station's data to another country and tell the world how vulnerable you are," the message warned.
Proving it was no hoax, the message included scientific data showing that the extortionist had roamed freely around the server, which controlled the 50 researchers' life-support systems.
The FBI traced the e-mail to an Internet cafe in Bucharest and helped Romanian police arrest two locals -- the latest evidence that computer-savvy Romanians are fast emerging as a bold menace in the shadowy world of cyber crime.
"It's one of the leading places for this kind of activity," said Gabrielle Burger, who runs the FBI's office in Bucharest and is working with Romanian authorities to arrest suspects "and avoid the Sept. 11 of cyber crime."
Law enforcement documents that were obtained by the Associated Press portray a loosely organized but increasingly aggressive network of young Romanians conspiring with accomplices in Europe and the United States to steal millions of dollars each year from consumers and companies.
Their specialties: defrauding consumers through bogus Internet purchases, extorting cash from companies after hacking into their systems, and designing and releasing computer-crippling worms and viruses.
Alarmed authorities say the South Pole case underscores the global impact of this new breed of cyber outlaw.
"Frustrated with the employment possibilities offered in Romania, some of the world's most talented computer students are exploiting their talents online," the U.S.-based Internet Fraud Complaint Center, run by the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center, says in a new report.
Computer crime flourished in Romania because the country lacked a cyber crime law until earlier this year, when it enacted what may be the world's harshest. The new law provides punishment of up to 15 years in prison -- more than twice the maximum for rape.
Varujan Pambuccian, a lawmaker and former programmer, helped draft the law after Romania's government realized that the nation, which is racing to join the European Union by 2007, was getting a bad online reputation.
