MADRID, Spain — Europol, the European police agency, said that it had dismantled one of the most efficient cyber crime organizations to date, led by Russians who had managed to extort millions of euros from online users across more than 30 countries - mostly European - by persuading them to pay spurious police fines for abusive use of the Internet.
The Russian head of the crime network was arrested in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in December. Early this month, Spanish police arrested 10 other people - six Russians, two Ukrainians and two Georgians - along the Costa del Sol, a popular vacation destination in southern Spain, where the criminals are believed to have had their main base of operations.
However, the search continues for other possible cells operated by the criminal network outside of Europe, investigators said last week.
Business, Pages 24 on 02/18/2013