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Hackers Charged for Stealing Over $9M From ATMs

by Caleb Johnson on November 11, 2009 at 03:10 PM

After running an elaborate scam that netted about $9 million, eight men were indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday for their alleged roles in a massive ATM hacking scheme. While similar heists have been pulled before, this one is impressive not only because of the large chunk of cash, but because of the sheer scope of the crime, as well.

According to Threat Post, hackers discovered a way to bypass RBS WorldPay's payroll debit card encryption system sometime last November. After doing so, they created 44 debit cards and increased the limit on each one. Within 12 hours, they had withdrawn $9 million from 2,100 ATMs in 280 different cities. Now, that's some day of work! The alleged hackers -- most of whom are from Eastern Europe -- were busted when, prosecutors say, they failed to cover their tracks on the card-processing network. RBS WorldPay noticed suspicious activity and reported it to authorities. According to a statement from the Justice Department, each of these men faces what amounts to a lifetime sentence for various counts of fraud and identity theft. Some could be given heavy fines, too.

They might not be totally dumb criminals (They did beat the encryption system.), but didn't they consider spacing out the withdrawals? Even if it is worldwide, that's a lot of money for a mere 12-hour period. [From: Threat Post and U.S. Justice Department]

Tags: atm, criminal, dumbcriminal, hack, money, security, top

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