Serbian Hackers Caught in Vranje

By: Bojana Jankovic
Vranje, Dec.4, 2009 (Serbia Today) - The American software giant Microsoft sent a detailed report, totaling hundreds of pages long, on a dangerous group of hackers from Serbia, to Serbian police. Much to the lead investigator’s surprise, they came across a boy of only 17 years old from Vranje as the brains of this complex international operation. With the help of three friends who are 18 years old, this young man had raised the ire of the American juggernaut and triggered an international investigation.
Microsoft, in its elaborate report, claimed that the hackers broke into the databases electronic stores, or e-commerce centers, in New York and Washington, and obtained shoppers data and details on their purchasing habits.
After initial data theft, the group then sent the people a false e-mail from a bank which sought information on their credit cards. In this way, they illegally obtained information on hundreds of payment cards, which were then used for purchases, from Serbia.
The search for a group by Microsoft technical staff took an unexpected turn, as inspectors from the police department for high-tech crime, found that the Internet hackers were not a group of professional criminals, but boys from Vranje, who were ordered computers, technology, luxury mobile phones, games at first, for themselves, and then for girls and friends as a gifts. Police disguised themselves as couriers of City Express (the company paid to deliver the illegally purchased items) and arrested them while delivering the goods to their residence.
One of the boys, who is 18 years old, was in charge of handling the phone and confirmed the address where the goods were to be delivered. The delivery address was to houses down from where the brain of the operations lived. Unfortunately for the group, two doors down was not quite far enough away to throw the police off their trail.