Sneaky cyber-thieves have made millions by fraudulently obtaining European greenhouse gas emissions allowances and reselling them.

The scam has hampered trading of the credits, which are seen as an important tool in curbing climate change, in several European countries.  According to Financial Times Deutschland, hackers sent e-mails to several companies in Europe, Japan and New Zealand which appeared to originate from the Potsdam-based German Emissions Trading Authority , part of the EU’s Emission Trading System.

The cyber-thieves then exploited the user data that was entered into their spoof Web site to transfer emissions allowances to other accounts, mainly in Denmark and Britain, from which they were quickly resold.