German police have arrested a number of men they suspect to be part of an international phishing gang.

The German Federal Crime Investigation Office today announced it has arrested seven men, aged between 21 and 47 years old, who were believed to be on the brink of using spam emails and trojan software to try and steal online banking passwords and log-in details.

The arrests follow on from raids by the crime agency in December last year. During the search of homes in Frankfurt police seized evidence that the German-Lithuanian gang had set up bank accounts under false identities.

It is believed the accounts were going to be used to launder the financial proceeds of the phishing scams out of Germany to Eastern Europe.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at anti-virus firm Sophos applauded the actions of the German police.

He said: 'The potential rewards for internet crime are high, and we are seeing organised international gangs becoming more sophisticated in the ways in which they attempt to steal information from online banking users.'

'Computer crime authorities around the world need to work closely with each other to break these criminal gangs apart and bring them to justice.'

What do you think? Email us at: mailto:feedback@computing.co.uk