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“I agree, sir, but if we can trace something in their past, it might give us a clue to where they could be now, particularly if we’re trying to find a needle in a haystack like an industrial unit from where they operate.”
Briggs nodded but he didn’t seem convinced.
“So how did they go from this relatively small-time stuff to the big one with David Hunter’s bank?” asked Gardener.
“They’ve been involved in everything,” said Gates. “Stolen cards, fraudsters shop-to-drop. Spy software. At one point they were offering an online service of bank robbers for hire; thieves replacing money mules with prepaid cards. A couple of years back the FBI were investigating theft of $139,000 from Pittsford, New York.”
“What, and they were involved?” Reilly asked.
“Seems so,” said Pearson, “but the big one was when someone was sold a lemon in Internet Banking. We finally discovered this was the precursor to the bank scam involving David Hunter.”
“What happened?” Gardener asked, taking a seat.
“Be quicker if I just read this out,” said Pearson. “I haven’t had time to study it all. An online bank robbery in which computer crooks stole £50,000 from a Glasgow car dealership illustrated the deftness with which cyber thieves were flouting the meagre security measures protecting commercial accounts at many banks. But it was small fry compared to what James really had in mind.
“At 7:45 a.m. Monday, 1st November last year, the controller for Auditech, a Glasgow-based Audi dealer, logged into his account at RBS, Glasgow, to check the company’s accounts. Seven hours later, he logged back in and submitted a payroll batch for company employees totalling £40,000. The bank’s authentication system sent him an email to confirm the batch details, and the controller approved it.
“The controller didn’t know it at the time, but DPA had already compromised his Microsoft Windows PC with a copy of the Octopus Trojan, which allowed James to monitor the controller’s computer and log in to the company’s bank account using his machine. Less than an hour after the bookkeeper approved the payroll batch, bank records show, DPA logged in to Auditech’s account from the same internet address normally used by the dealership, using the controller’s correct username and password.
“The attackers cased the joint a bit – checking the transaction history, account summary and balance – and then logged out. They waited until 1:04 p.m. the next day to begin creating their own £50,000 payroll batch, by adding four new ‘employees’ to the company’s books. The employees added were in fact money mules recruited through work-at-home job scams to help crooks launder stolen funds.
“Auditech’s controller never received the confirmation email sent by the bank to verify the second payroll batch initiated by the fraudsters, because the crooks also had control over the controller’s email account.”
“Is that everything?” asked Gardener.
“I wish,” said Gates, “you can see the size of this file.”
Gardener glanced at Briggs. “I agree with the DCI, it is very interesting, and I appreciate everything you’ve done in bringing this to the incident room, but we’re no nearer to finding out who is killing them now.”
“There’s every possibility we could be even further away than we thought,” said Briggs. “Think about how many people they’ve crossed. All the information we have picked up would require the entire UK’s police forces on it full time to make a breakthrough.”
Gardener sighed and took a seat. The previous incident room meeting had given them some hope. He didn’t feel the same way now.
“Does anyone have any good news?” he asked.
Patrick Edwards raised his hand.
Chapter Forty-six
Patrick swivelled his chair around to his computer station, which was once again connected to the overhead projector. He tapped a few keys and the screen came to life.
“I’ve got some more good CCTV footage from Butts Court, which concerns our friend, Superintendent Palmer. It’s not brilliant because it’s relying on street-lighting.”
The scene was peaceful enough. A Vauxhall Astra pool car was parked up. Gardener moved in closer, if you peered at it for long enough you could see the two officers on watch. The passenger seat appeared to be reclined and the officer had his hat over his face. The other was reading a book.
Before Edwards said anything, Sergeant David Williams dropped into the room and took a seat. Chances were he’d finished his shift and was interested enough to see what was developing.
On the screen that Edwards was operating, the infamous Green Evoque pulled in behind the Astra, making the driver’s side harder to spot because it was lined up with the kerb.
The door opened and the officer stepped out, dressed in full regalia of uniform and peaked cap. He closed the door of the Evoque and straightened his cap and walked towards the Astra, with his head still down. He appeared to be holding his throat.
“Stop it there, Patrick,” said Gardener. “Can we enhance that?”
“Not enough to get a good look at him. I’ve tried.”
Gardener still requested it. The software gave them a close up but as Patrick Edwards had said, it was grainy. “Anyone recognise him?”
The officers shook their heads.
