The FBI has announced that it’s cracked a “major international cyber crime network” after more than 90 suspected members of the ring were arrested in the US. According to the BBC the suspects worked for fraudsters based in Eastern Europe who hacked into US computers to steal over €50 million.

Stock-photo-tastic! I’m guessing the ‘money mules’ didn’t dress like this all the time.

The FBI said the suspects acted as go-betweens or ‘money mules’ by providing bank accounts for an elaborate cyber crime scheme. The arrests were part of what the Bureau called “one of the largest cyber criminal cases we have ever investigated”, and most of those arrested in the US were charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and money laundering. Meanwhile, more people were detained in Ukraine and the UK.

“This was a major theft ring,” said Gordon Snow, assistant director of the FBI’s Cyber Division. “Global criminal activity on this scale is a threat to our financial infrastructure, and it can only be effectively countered through the kind of international cooperation we have seen in this case.”

An FBI statement told how hackers in Eastern Europe would use spam email to infect computers of small businesses and individuals in the US with the well-known Zeus virus. The unnamed hackers were then able to access users’ online passwords and bank account details and used them to transfer money to the bank accounts provided by the go-betweens in the US.

Once the money was in their accounts, the mules could either wire it back to their bosses in Eastern Europe, or turn it into cash and smuggle it out of the country. They were paid a commission for their work.

The crime ring attempted to steal around $220 million (just over €160 million), the FBI added. The arrests were the result of an international operation that kicked off in Omaha in May 2009 when FBI agents noticed a row of suspicious bank transactions.

Law enforcement agencies in the US, Ukraine, the Netherlands and the UK were also involved in the investigation. Police in the UK arrested 19 people suspected members of the ring. In Ukraine, police arrested five people suspected of directing the scheme, the FBI said.