14 DAY TRIAL // US authorities have managed to extradite another member of the huge criminal group that hacked RBS WorldPay servers in 2008 and then carried out a massive ATM heist, stealing over $9 million from 2,100 ATMs in at least 280 cities, in less than 12 hours.
Last Friday, US authorities brought Evgeny Tarasovich Levitskyy in front of a US judge to be charged for his role in this criminal ring, after they had finally managed to extradite the Ukrainian national from the Czech Republic.
Levitskyy, 31, of Nikolaev, Ukraine, was known online as Vinchenco, Vinch, or M.U.R.D.E.R.E.R.. He was one of the smaller pawns of a large cyber-crime syndicate led by Estonian national Sergei Tsurikov.
Group hacked RBS, carried out massive ATM heist afterward
In 2008, Tsurikov's gang obtained access to the servers of RBS WordPlay that handled debit card transactions, after breaking the server's encryption.
These servers contained information about customer bank accounts associated with payroll debit cards, used by US companies to pay weekly or monthly salaries to their employees. The hackers raised the withdrawal limit for these accounts to $1 million.
The gang then created fake credit cards for 44 bank accounts, and using a network of cash mules, among whom Levitskyy was a key figure, they withdrew over $9 million from these accounts in only 12 hours on a night in December 2008.
The group extracted the money from over 2,100 ATMs located in 280 cities in the US, Russia, Ukraine, Estonia, Italy, Hong Kong, Japan, and Canada.
Levitskyy was only a cash mule
Authorities believe Levitskyy was one of the cash mules, and he alone was responsible for stealing as much as $500,000 using one single fake credit card.
US officials say the cash mules kept between 30 and 50 percent of the money while the rest was sent out to the group's four leaders: Sergei Tsurikov, 25, of Tallinn, Estonia, Viktor Pleshchuk, 28, of St. Petersburg, Russia, Oleg Covelin, 28, of Chisinau, Moldova, and Eugene Anikin, of Novosibirsk, Russia.
Ever since November 2009, US authorities have been filing indictments left and right and bringing the group's members one by one into the US to face charges.
Fourteen criminals have been tried so far. According to the US Department of Justice, these are Russian nationals Viktor Pleshchuk, Evgeniy Anikin, and Roman Seleznev; Estonian nationals Sergei Tsurikov, Igor Grudijev, Ronald Tsoi, Eveilyn Tsoi, and Mikhail Jevgenov; Moldovan national Oleg Covelin; Ukrainian nationals Vladimir Valeyrich Tailar and Evgeny Levitskyy; Nigerian national Ezenwa Chukukere; American national Sonya Martin; and Vladislav Horohorin, who is citizen of Russia, Israel, and Ukraine.
Based on the current charges, Levitskyy faces 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000 for each count. He was charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and wire fraud.