Swedish court sentences fraudsters to prison

Sweden’s Värmland District Court has handed down sentencing to eight people involved in a major fraud case involving internet poker following a two-year investigation by Swedish authorities and the Swedish gaming authority Lotteriinspektionen.

The criminals hacked into and gained private login information from several large gaming companies including state-sponsored gambling monopoly Svenska Spel between 2007 and 2011.

Using customers’ private login details, the hackers accessed multiple individual gaming accounts siphoning off and redirecting funds into other accounts.

The Court sentenced a 25-year-old-man from Karlstad to two and a half years for a total of 51 cases of gross fraud and hacking while another from Stockholm was sentenced to one year and three months for 19 cases under the same charge.

Five other accused were sentenced to probation and a fine while two others were acquitted.

Swedish Gaming Board Lotteriinspektionen operations manager Erik Sjöholm commented: “It is noteworthy that this could last for so long and that it was so easy to obtain the login information for email addresses and game accounts. These are security issues that should be reviewed in light of the approaches that have emerged in the investigation.”

The court ruled that the stolen funds be repaid to claimants while the remainder belonging to unknown parties will be paid to the State.  A large number of claims were examined by the Court ranging from a few hundred dollars up to 280 000 dollars.

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