14 DAY TRIAL // The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) has dismantled a fraud ring whose members managed to infect all ATMs in the city of Yakutsk with malware designed to steal credit card data.
Yakutsk is the capital of the Russian Sakha (Yakutia) Republic, the largest federal subject of the Russian Federation, by area. The city is average-sized compare to others in the country and has a population of around 210,000.
According to the authorities [Google translation], the organized crime group made up of three men, contracted a hacker from Moscow, who they met on an underground forum, to build a custom ATM virus for them.
The gang paid a total of 100,000 rubles (almost $3200) for the malware and proceeded to infect ATMs with it. Everyone got assigned tasks based on their expertise.
For example, one of them who worked as the head of an IT department, took care of obtaining access to the targeted ATMs.
A system administrator, who also acted a the leader of the group, handled the infection part, while a third man acted as money mule.
The suspects were arrested simultaneously and their appartments were searched. The police claims that it found copies of ATM malware on their computers, as well as stolen credit card information and other evidence of the fraud.
The three men managed to compromise all of the ATMs in Yakutsk, but the authorities reacted quickly and did not give them time to misuse the captured data. This prevented a considerable ammout of harm.
A week later, law enforcement officers from the MVD also arrested the Moscow-based hacker who created the malware. All defendants were charged with the creation, use and distribution of a malicious computer program.
The case was handled by the Departmeht “K” of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, a division which specializes in the investigation of cybercrimes and privacy breaches.