Millions defrauded in global ATM scam

Investigators from the USA, and a number of other countries, uncovered what is being described by the press as the world’s biggest ATM fraud, which resulted in defrauding some USD 45 mln by a global network of criminals, international media reported, May 2013.

“In the place of guns and masks, this cyber-crime organization used laptops and the internet,” US prosecutor, Loretta Lynch, said. “Moving as swiftly as data moves over the internet, the organization worked its way from the computer systems of international corporations to the streets of New York, with the defendants fanning out across Manhattan to steal millions of dollars from hundreds of ATMs in a matter of hours,” she concluded.

Although only 10 individuals were arrested, prosecutors say the network is much wider and involves a number of hackers and other accomplices, from as many as 20 countries worldwide.

Conspiracy leaders encoded the stolen bank account numbers to fake cash withdrawal cards. The cards were given to the ‘cashing crews,’ who physically withdrew money from bank machines.

The compromised firms include a credit-card processing company in India and the National Bank of the Ras Al-Khaimah emirate in the UAE.

Many of the conspiracy leaders and hackers remain at large, so it is safe to say that further cases of fraud may follow.