The five were found guilty of various combinations of bank fraud, computer fraud, conspiracy and aggravated and are scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 31.

BACKGROUND:

The group was made up of members in the U.S. and Egypt, and used phishing to lure victims to phony bank websites and reveal account numbers, passwords and other personal identification information.

They used that information to transfer assets out of victims' accounts in amounts ranging from a few hundred to $2,000 and into accounts controlled by members of the gang. Low-level participants called runners opened the accounts that received the stolen funds, then transferred it to accomplices in Egypt, according to the U.S. Attorney's office for the Central District of California.

In all, 100 people were charged in Operation Phish Phry when officials in the U.S. and Egypt swept up participants in October 2009.