An extortion and money-laundering ring targeting UK sports-betting Web sites has been smashed by UK and Russian law enforcement agencies, assisted by government agencies and businesses from the U.S., Canada, Australia and Estonia. Three men were arrested in Russia on July 20th, accused of running a global protection racket and extracting hundreds of thousands of dollars from online sports-betting sites. . . .
An extortion and money-laundering ring targeting UK sports-betting Web sites has been smashed by UK and Russian law enforcement agencies, assisted by government agencies and businesses from the U.S., Canada, Australia and Estonia.

Three men were arrested in Russia on July 20th, accused of running a global protection racket and extracting hundreds of thousands of dollars from online sports-betting sites.

DoS Attack

In October 2003, the gang started launching denial of service (DoS) attacks on Web sites belonging to UK sports-betting companies. By overwhelming the servers with messages, they were able to close down the sites and cause millions of dollars in lost business. The gang then sent e-mail demands, asking for money to stop the attacks for one year. However, the gang said in the e-mails that at the end of that year, they would return for more money.

Sports betting agencies in the UK have been subject to attacks and demands for money since October 2003, and officers from the UK's National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) have been working closely with their Russian counterparts to track down and arrest the criminals.