US$9 million stolen in 12 hours
(12 November 2009 – USA) Eight Eastern Europeans have been indicted by the US federal grand jury, accused of stealing US$9 million (A$9.6 million) in 12 hours, by hacking into the computer network of Royal Bank of Scotland WorldPay.
In November last year the group from Russia, Estonia and Moldova raised the limits on accounts by hacking into the RBS WorldPay system and compromised the encryption used by the processor to protect customer data on payroll debit cards.
They then created over 44 counterfeit payroll debit cards and distributed them to a network of ‘cashers’ who were allowed to keep 30-50 percent of the stolen funds, they then proceeded to withdraw over US$9 million within a 12 hour time frame.
The ‘cashers’ then proceeded to transmit the rest of the money back to the defendants.
The defendants then tried to destroy the information stored on the network to disguise their criminal activities.
However, RBS WorldPay noticed the unauthorised activity and reported the breach to the authorities.
The group face charges in relation to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit computer fraud, computer fraud, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Each member of the group faces a different combination of the charges depending on their involvement.
Sally Quillian Yates, acting US attorney, Northern District of Georgia, said that in this case, in just one day, an American credit card processor was hacked into in perhaps the most sophisticated and organised computer fraud attack ever conducted.
Almost a year later, the leaders of this attack have been charged and the investigation has broken the back of one of the most sophisticated computer hacking rings in the world, Ms Quillian Yates added.
They then created over 44 counterfeit payroll debit cards and distributed them to a network of ‘cashers’ who were allowed to keep 30-50 percent of the stolen funds, they then proceeded to withdraw over US$9 million within a 12 hour time frame.
The ‘cashers’ then proceeded to transmit the rest of the money back to the defendants.
The defendants then tried to destroy the information stored on the network to disguise their criminal activities.
However, RBS WorldPay noticed the unauthorised activity and reported the breach to the authorities.
The group face charges in relation to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit computer fraud, computer fraud, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Each member of the group faces a different combination of the charges depending on their involvement.
Sally Quillian Yates, acting US attorney, Northern District of Georgia, said that in this case, in just one day, an American credit card processor was hacked into in perhaps the most sophisticated and organised computer fraud attack ever conducted.
Almost a year later, the leaders of this attack have been charged and the investigation has broken the back of one of the most sophisticated computer hacking rings in the world, Ms Quillian Yates added.
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