"The nature of online commerce presents opportunities for sophisticated and resourceful cyber criminals, operating across national boundaries and jurisdictions," said DC Simon Mills of the PceU.

"We hope the successful outcome of this and other PCeU investigations will serve as a deterrent to those contemplating these conspiracies, will put fear into the minds of those engaged in them and will serve to reduce the harm caused by cyber crime."

The PCeU is a national unit created to respond to the most serious incidents of cyber crime in the UK, and forms part of the government's response to cyber threats, under the National Cyber Security Programme.

Earlier this month, the unit that robbed a British woman of her £1 million life savings.