18 HACKERS ARRESTED ARE INVOLVED IN ATM THEFT AND BANK FRAUD

ORIGINAL CONTENT: https://www.securitynewspaper.com/2019/10/14/18-hackers-arrested-are-involved-in-atm-theft-and-bank-fraud/

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has dealt a severe blow to cybercrime. Vulnerability testing experts reported that American authorities have arrested 18 hackers from various countries allegedly involved in multiple financial frauds, stealing tens of millions of dollars from both banking and users.

The DOJ mentions that these cyberciminals are involved in the theft of ATMs and money laundering in at least 17 American states.

According to reports from vulnerability testing experts, all of these hackers have been accused of committing multiple crimes, including bank fraud, electronic device fraud, identity theft, among others. “All defendants were found importing devices for the theft of bank cards (known as skimmers) from multiple parts of the world to deploy them in different locations and extract the victim’s information when they entered their card in the machine”, said Geoffrey Berman, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

This skimming network obtained the payment card information of the victims by using advanced technology equipment after manufacturing fake payment cards with the data of the victims to empty their bank accounts.

If they’re found guilty, the criminals will face charges of conspiracy to commit fraud, conspiracy to commit electronic fraud, aggravated identity theft, among other felonies. Each of the defendants could be sentenced to up to 40 years in prison.

A few weeks ago, vulnerability testing specialists from the International Institute of Cyber Security (IICS) reported the finding of a new variant of malware designed to exploit vulnerabilities at Indian Banks ATM machines to extract users’ information. This malware, identified as ATMDtrack, allows threat actors to access and store each card’s data when it is inserted at the compromised ATM machine. Apparently the threat actors who created this malware are members of the infamous Lazarus hacking group, linked to North Korean intelligence agencies.