They're responsible for stealing $45 million (€33.5 million)

Nov 13, 2013 09:18 GMT  ·  By

Three New York-based members of an international cybercriminal ring have pleaded guilty to taking part in a massive scheme as a result of which financial organizations lost $45 million (€33.5 million).

The three individuals are Evan Jose Peña, who pleaded guilty on Tuesday, and Emir Yasser Yeje and Elvis Rafael Rodriguez, who pleaded guilty last month.

According to authorities, Peña, Yeje and Rodriguez were members of a cybercriminal organization that used stolen payment card data to make fraudulent ATM withdrawals all over the world. The New York branch alone is said to have withdrawn almost $2.8 million (€2 million) in just a few hours.

The cyberattacks launched by the crooks are known in the underground as “Unlimited Operations.” That’s because the scheme involves hacking into the systems of payment card processors and eliminating withdrawal limits and balances of certain accounts.

In addition, security protocols set in place to alert victims in case of an attack are also disabled.

Peña, Yeje and Rodriguez are said to have taken part in two such operations. One of them took place in December 2012 and targeted National Bank of Ras Al-Khaimah PSC (RAKBANK) prepaid card accounts at a payment card processor.

In this case, a total of 4,500 fraudulent ATM transactions were conducted in 20 countries, resulting in losses of around $5 million (€3.7 million).

The second operation took place on February 19-20, 2013. On this occasion, the cybercriminals targeted a payment card processor that handled prepaid cards issued by Bank Muscat, a financial organization in Oman.

This time, a total of 36,000 transactions were conducted in 24 countries. Over the course of 10 hours, the fraudsters managed to steal $40 million (€30 million) from ATMs.

The three defendants face up to 7.5 years in jail.

“These three defendants participated in a criminal flash mob, using data stolen through the most sophisticated hacking techniques to withdraw millions of dollars in mere hours in an unprecedented cyber heist,” commented US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Loretta E. Lynch.

“Their pleas demonstrate that the United States government will not relent in its efforts to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of these financially devastating cyberattacks.”