ATLANTA — The Justice Department announced it has seized a web domain and database used in a scheme targeting at least two Georgia companies through bank account takeover fraud.
Officials said the domain, web3adspanels.org, served as a backend web panel where criminals stored and manipulated stolen bank login credentials. The group delivered fraudulent advertisements through search engines, including Google and Bing.
“While the fraudulent ads appeared to direct users to legitimate bank websites, victims were actually redirected to fake sites controlled by the criminals,” Justice Department officials said. “When victims entered their login credentials, the criminals harvested them through malicious software embedded in the fake sites.”
The stolen credentials were then used on the corresponding legitimate bank websites to access accounts and drain funds.
The FBI identified at least 19 victims across the United States, including two in Georgia.
The scheme caused approximately $14.6 million in actual losses, with attempted losses totaling about $28 million.
The investigation is ongoing.