Photos from security video obtained by Fox 5 show of a small piece of a huge scam that took place all in one day in a matter of hours. According to the FBI , ATMs from 49 cities were hit — including Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Montreal, Moscow and Hong Kong.
“We’ve seen similar attempts to defraud a bank through ATM machines but not, not anywhere near the scale we have here,” FBI Agent Ross Rice told Fox 5.
These people in the photos are believed to be “cashers,” low-level players, in a scheme devised from some mastermind — a dangerous computer hacker or hacking ring authorities fear could strike again.
Here’s how it all came down, according to information Fox obtained from the FBI and law enforcement sources:
The computer system for a company called RBS WorldPay was hacked. One service of the company is the ability for employers to pay employees with the money going directly to a card, called payroll cards, a lot like a debit card that can be used in any ATM. The hacker was able to infiltrate the supposedly secure system and steal the information necessary to duplicate or clone people’s ATM cards.
“We’ve never seen one this well coordinated,” the FBI said.
Then shortly after midnight Eastern Time on November 8, the FBI believes that dozens of the so-called cashers were used in a coordinated attack of ATM machines around the world.
“Over 130 different ATM machines in 49 cities worldwide were accessed in a 30-minute period on November 8,” Agents Rice said. “So you can get an idea of the number of people involved in this and the scope of the operation.”
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