We’ve all had them: emails warning that a subscription is about to end or a payment is overdue, often alarmingly specific. Phishing attempts are becoming increasingly sophisticated—but who comes up with them in the first place? Would you ever suspect a student DJ in Kent, England? Ollie Holman wasn’t sending phishing emails himself, but he was selling “phishing kits”—packages of software that allowed buyers to impersonate banks, government bodies, and other institutions. This talented coder was helping others defraud people of hundreds of thousands. Why?
Last year, Holman was found guilty of orchestrating a network that made £100 million in stolen funds from victims in 24 countries, across 69 financial institutions, including major banks, public bodies and charities. The investigation involved police forces across Europe. In the end, Holman was sentenced to seven years in prison.
For his friends and family, the revelation was bewildering. How had he managed to facilitate fraud on that scale? What had drawn him into it? And how, exactly, does a £100 million fraud operation work?
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