Dec 23, 2025Ravie LakshmananFinancial Crime / Law Enforcement
The U.S. Justice Department (DoJ) on Monday announced the seizure of a web domain and database that it said was used to further a criminal scheme designed to target and defraud Americans by means of a bank account takeover scheme.
The domain in question, web3adspanels[.]org, was used as a backend web panel to host and manipulate illegally harvested bank login credentials. Users to the website are now greeted by a seizure banner that says the domain was taken down in an international law enforcement operation led by authorities from the U.S. and Estonia.
“The criminal group perpetrating the bank account takeover fraud delivered fraudulent advertisements through search engines, including Google and Bing,” the DoJ said. “These fraudulent advertisements imitate the sponsored search engine advertisements used by legitimate banking entities.”
The ads served as a conduit to redirect unsuspecting users to fake bank websites operated by the threat actors, who harvested login credentials entered by victims through an unspecified malicious software program built into the sites. The stolen credentials were then used by the criminals to sign into legitimate bank websites to take over victims’ accounts and drain their funds.
The scheme is estimated to have claimed 19 victims across the U.S. to date, including two companies in the Northern District of Georgia, leading to attempted losses of approximately $28 million and actual losses of approximately $14.6 million.
The DoJ said the confiscated domain stored the stolen login credentials of thousands of victims, in addition to hosting a backend server to facilitate takeover fraud as recently as last month.
According to information shared by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has received more than 5,100 complaints related to bank account takeover fraud since January 2025, with reported losses upwards of $262 million.
Users are advised to exercise caution when sharing about themselves online or on social media; regularly monitor accounts for any financial irregularities; use unique, complex passwords; ensure the correctness of banking website URLs before signing in; and stay vigilant against phishing attacks or suspicious callers.
French actress Brigitte Bardot, who has died aged 91, arguably redefined cinematic allure, captivating the world as a 1950s screen icon.
From her breakout appearance in And God Created Woman to her provocative roles in The Truth, Contempt, and Viva Maria! she pioneered a fresh image of female sexuality and liberation on screen, before dedicating her life to animal rights.
Bardot’s life was one of glamour, controversy, and conviction.
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Born in Paris in 1934, Bardot trained as a ballerina before her striking beauty caught the eye of filmmakers.
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At 18, she married director Roger Vadim, who cast her in And God Created Woman, a provocative film that launched her to international stardom.
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Bardot’s sensual, carefree persona in this French New Wave classic redefined femininity and made her a Cannes sensation.
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Through the late 1950s and 1960s, Bardot became a global phenomenon with roles in The Truth, earning critical acclaim for her dramatic depth, and Contempt, a Jean-Luc Godard masterpiece, and Viva Maria!, showcasing her comedic flair alongside Jeanne Moreau.
Her tousled hair and bold eyeliner set fashion trends worldwide, while her performances cemented Bardot as a cinematic trailblazer.
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Sami Frey and Brigitte Bardot in The Truth, 1960
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Michel Piccoli and Brigitte Bardot on the set of Le Mepris, (Contempt) 1963
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Bardot during a press conference for Contempt in Rome, Italy
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Jeanne Moreau and Brigitte Bardot on the set of the Louis Malle film, Viva Maria!
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Beyond her most iconic roles, Bardot showcased her versatility in films like Love on a Pillow, where she portrayed a complex, emotionally-torn character, and Two Weeks in September, a romantic drama that highlighted her ability to convey vulnerability.
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Her 1962 film Love on a Pillow was directed by Roger Vadim
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Bardot during the filming of Two Weeks in September in East Lothian, Scotland in September 1966
In The Bear and the Doll , she brought playful charm to a comedic role, proving her range across genres.
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Bardot in a scene in Michel Deville’s 1970 film, The Bear and the Doll
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These films, though less celebrated, underscored her ability to captivate audiences in diverse narratives.
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In 1973, at the height of her fame, Bardot retired from acting at 39 to champion animal rights.
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Founding the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, she campaigned against seal hunting and animal testing, channelling her passion into advocacy.
Her bold shift from screen siren to activist surprised many but reflected her commitment to living authentically.
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Settling in Saint-Tropez, Bardot embraced a quieter life, far from the spotlight.
She remained a symbol of 1960s glamour and a pioneer for animal rights.
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Bardot’s reputation was damaged in her later years, when she made homophobic slurs and was fined multiple times for inciting racial hatred.
It was a scar on the memory of an icon, who – in her prime – put the bikini, female desire, and French cinema on the map.
Brigitte Bardot: From French cinema to international fame
French actress Brigitte Bardot, who revolutionised 1950s French cinema and became a symbol of sexual liberation, has died aged 91.
The cinema icon – “BB” as she was known in her home country – acted in almost 50 films, including And God Created Woman, but retired in 1973 to devote her life to animal welfare.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the nation was mourning “a legend of the century”, while the Brigitte Bardot Foundation remembered her as a “world-renowned actress”.
Later in life, Bardot’s reputation was damaged after she made homophobic slurs and was fined multiple times for inciting racial hatred.
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Brigitte Bardot – pictured here in 2006 – gave up acting to concentrate on animal welfare at the age of 39
The Brigitte Bardot Foundation she established said in a statement that it was announcing her death with “immense sadness”.
The animal welfare organisation said she was “a world-renowned actress and singer, who chose to abandon her prestigious career to dedicate her life and energy to animal welfare and her foundation.”
It did not specify where or when Bardot died.
Paying tribute, Macron wrote: “Her films, her voice, her dazzling glory, her initials, her sorrows, her generous passion for animals, her face that became Marianne, Brigitte Bardot embodied a life of freedom.
“French existence, universal brilliance. She touched us. We mourn a legend of the century.”
Meanwhile, French far-right politician Marine Le Pen said France had lost “an exceptional woman, through her talent, her courage, her frankness, her beauty”.
Bardot’s husband, whom she married in 1992, was Bernard d’Ormale, a former adviser to the late far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen – the father of Marine.
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Bardot tore up the rule book of French cinema in the 1950s
Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot was born in Paris in 1934 to a wealthy family, who wanted her to become a ballerina.
She was discovered in her teens after posing on the cover of Elle magazine, swiftly becoming a sensation in her home country, and was persuaded to enter the cinema world.
She played iconic roles, most notably in the 1956 film And God Created Woman, directed by her then-husband Roger Vadim, in which she played a sexually liberated woman.
The film scandalised the American public and was banned in some US states, while the French existentialist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir hailed her as an icon of “absolute freedom”.
Through the late 1950s and 1960s, she became a global phenomenon with roles in The Truth, earning critical acclaim for her dramatic depth; Contempt, a Jean-Luc Godard masterpiece; and Viva Maria!, showcasing her comedic flair alongside Jeanne Moreau.
Beyond her most iconic roles, Bardot showcased her versatility in films like Love on a Pillow, where she portrayed a complex, emotionally-torn character, and Two Weeks in September, a romantic drama that highlighted her ability to convey vulnerability.
In The Bear and the Doll, she brought playful charm to a comedic role, proving her range across genres. These films, though less celebrated, underscored her ability to captivate audiences in diverse narratives.
As well as her work in film, Bardot will also be remembered as a fashion icon, with her blonde tousled hair and bold eyeliner setting beauty trends worldwide. After wearing an off-the-shoulder number in Cannes in 1953, similar styles became known as the Bardot neckline.
She was married four times and had one son, Nicolas, with French actor and film producer Jacques Charrier, who died in September.
Nicolas later sued his mother for emotional damage after she wrote in an autobiography that she would have preferred to “give birth to a little dog”.
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Bardot, Jacques Charrier and their three-day-old son Nicolas in 1960
Ruthlessly marketed as a hedonistic sex symbol, Bardot was frustrated in her ambition to become a serious actress.
At the height of her fame, she announced she was retiring at the age of 39 to devote her life to animal welfare.
“I gave my youth and beauty to men, I give my wisdom and experience to animals,” Bardot famously declared.
In 1986, she launched the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, which works to protect wild and domestic animals.
Reacting to her death, France’s oldest animal protection association – The Société Protectrice des Animaux – paid tribute to an “iconic and passionate figure for the animal cause”.
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Bardot, pictured here in 2001, became an increasingly controversial figure in her later life
But for all her cinema successes and animal welfare work, Bardot leaves behind a controversial legacy, with a string of remarks later in life about Islam, gay people and the #MeToo movement impacting her reputation.
From the late 1990s, Bardot was fined multiple times for inciting racial hatred after comments she made online and in interviews about Muslims. She was fined €15,000 (£12,000) in 2008 after complaining on her website that Muslims were “destroying our country by imposing their ways”.
Bardot faced fierce criticism for her 2003 book, A Cry in the Silence, where she argued gay people, modern art, politicians and immigrants destroyed French culture.
