âWorldâs Most Dangerous Malwareâ Emotet Taken Down in International Cyber Crime Effort Feb 4, 2021 Perhaps the world’s most infamous phishing racket, the Emotet malware network has been taken down by police, sparing people around the globe millions of dollars in data-theft and computer, software, and network maintenance fees. In what was the cyber-equivalent to a massive international police raid, the governments of the US, UK, Canada, Lithuania, Holland, France, Ukraine, and Germany all participated in the bust. First observed in Europe in 2014, Emotet expanded its reach over the years and was behind millions of costly cyberattacks across the globe. The FBI opened its first related investigation when a North Carolina school district was compromised by Emotet in 2017.