THE RINGLEADERS of a gang that stole £3 million from bank accounts have been jailed.
Yuriy Konovalenko aka Pavel Klikov, 29 and Yevhen Kulibaba, 33, both of Nevada Heights in Chingford Mount Road, have each been handed a sentence of fours years and eight months.
They pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud after stealing at least £2.9 million between September 2009 and March 2010.
The gang had used a virus to infect the personal computer of account holders which captured confidential information and led to funds from the UK and America being transferred to a large number of accounts controlled by the group.
Kulibaba was based mostly in Ukraine and responsible for obtaining and deciding which accounts would be attacked. Kovolenko, his right-hand man, was based in the UK and set up the gang's accounts.
Chingford residents Karina Kostromina, 34, also from Nevada Heights, and Valerij Milka, 30, of Lockwood, were sentenced at an earlier date to two years and three years respectively.
And 10 other members based in east and south London were jailed for between 26 weeks and 40 months.
Following a joint investigation by the Met's Police Central eCrime Unit (PceU), UK banks, the Crown Prosecution Service, the FBI and US Department of Justice, the fraudsters were arrested on September 29.
Computers and mobile phones containing incriminating data, fake passports and banking documents were found at their homes.
Det Insp Colin Wetherill, of the PceU, said: "These defendants were part of an organised network of computer criminals operating a state-of-the art international online banking fraud, through which they stole many millions of pounds from individuals and businesses in the UK and United States.
“The investigation involved unprecedented levels of cooperation between the Metropolitan Police, the UK banks, the FBI and other UK and international law enforcement agencies.
"We are working hard to reduce the harm caused by these activities, to put fear into the minds of those contemplating these conspiracies and to bring such offenders to justice."
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