Crime ring charged with stealing £5.4m from cash machines

Published on Tuesday 10 November 2009 21:30

AN EASTERN European crime ring has been charged with stealing millions of pounds from customers of a Royal Bank of Scotland subsidiary.

Prosecutors in the US have accused eight alleged members of the computer hacking ring of stealing 5.4m from the payment processing business RBS WorldPay in a 12-hour period.

Authorities described the crime as "perhaps the most sophisticated and organised computer fraud attack conducted".

It is claimed the gang cracked a computer system at RBS WorldPay, cloning cards and raising account limits before withdrawing cash from ATMs across the world. More than 2,100 machines in at least 280 cities were targeted during last November, with RBS WorldPay announcing the theft the following month.

The US department of justice announced the indictments of alleged gang members yesterday, which include 16 counts of conspiracy, fraud, identity theft and access device fraud.

It is alleged that the group used sophisticated hacking techniques to break RBS WorldPay's data encryption system, which is used to protect customer details on payroll debit cards.

Once cloned, the gang raised the account limits of customers and set up a network of "cashers" to steal money from machines around the world, it is alleged.

The "cashers" were allowed to keep between 30 and 50 per cent of the funds, with the rest wired back to the criminal gang.

Announcing the charges, Sally Quillian Yates, acting US attorney of the Northern District of Georgia, said: "Last November, in just one day, an American credit care processor was hacked in perhaps the most sophisticated and organised computer fraud attack ever conducted.

"Today, almost exactly one year later, the leaders of this attack have been charged.

"This investigation has broken the back of one of the most sophisticated computer hacking rings in the world."

The acting attorney praised RBS WorldPay for immediately reporting the crime.

In a statement the firm said: "RBS WorldPay has been and will continue to co-operate with the law enforcement agencies involved with the investigation.

"We are pleased by the FBI's announcement related to the recent indictments, however RBS WorldPay cannot provide any specific comments as the criminal investigation is ongoing."

Estonian Sergei Tsurikov, 25, Russian Viktor Pleshchuk, 28, Oleg Covelin, 28, of Moldova, and a fourth person have been charged with 16 counts of conspiracy, fraud and identity theft. Igor Grudijev, 31, Ronald Tsoi, 31, Evelin Tsoi, 20, and Mihhail Jevgenov, 33, all from Tallinn, Estonia, are indicted for access device fraud.