Manchester man, 21, arrested in international police operation

A man from south Manchester has been arrested as part of an international crackdown on a notorious criminal marketplace used by online fraudsters. 'Genesis' sold people's login details and other data to fraudsters online but was shut down yesterday (April 4).

The North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (NWROCU) joined coordinated raids by the NCA and police forces across the country, resulting in two arrests. This included a 21-year-old from Didsbury, south Manchester, who was arrested on suspicion of possession of articles for the use in the commission of fraud.

They were taken to custody for questioning but have since been released under investigation whilst forensic examination takes place. A 43-year-old man from Mold, North Wales, was also arrested for the same offences.

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The international police action took place across 17 countries and was led by the FBI and Dutch National Police. Genesis Market was a go-to service for criminals seeking to defraud victims, having hosted approximately 80 million credentials and digital fingerprints stolen from over two million people.

A total of 24 people were arrested during the action in the UK yesterday for a variety of offences from the Computer Misuse Act to fraud offences.

The NCA described Genesis Market as trading in 'digital identities', selling ‘bots’ that contained information taken from the victims' devices, which had been infected using malicious attacks. These indiscriminate attacks were conducted against both members of the public and larger companies.

The bots would then give the criminals access to all the data linked to an individuals' identity, such as cookies, saved logins and autofill form