14 DAY TRIAL // Ercan Findikoglu, 34, a Turkish citizen and leader of an international criminal group, has pleaded guilty to 18 charges in front of a New York judge after he was extradited to the US last summer.
Findikoglu, also known in online circles as "Segate," "Predator," and "Oreon," was the main actor behind a cyber-attack on four major US financial institutions in 2010. Targeted companies include JPMorgan Chase, MasterCard, and the American Red Cross.
The hacker used his access to steal customer information (among which PINs) from credit and debit card processing companies and to remove withdrawal limits for all affected accounts.
Findikoglu's acolytes stole $55 million (€50 million)
Between 2010 and 2013, the hacker, along with many co-conspirators, used these details to make simultaneous cash withdrawals from ATMs around the world.
Three major attacks stand out among all their operations. The first occurred on February 27 and 28, 2011, when the group withdrew $10 million (€9.2 million) via 15,000 fraudulent ATM transactions in 18 countries.
The second attack was carried out a year later, on December 22, 2012, when Findikoglu and his partners withdrew another $5 million (€4.6 million) through 4,500 ATM transactions in 20 countries.
The biggest heist happened on February 19 and 20, 2013, when the group took out $40 million (€37 million) via 36,000 ATM transactions in 24 countries.
The group made all ATM withdrawals in just a few hours, synchronized across countries, in an attempt to take as much money as possible before banks were alerted and shut down their servers.
Hacker faces up to 57.5 years in prison
Findikoglu was arrested in Frankfurt in December 2013 and fought against being extradited to the US for two years until June 2015. If he had been found guilty on all initial charges presented to him during the extradition process, the hacker would have faced up to a total of 247.5 years in prison.
According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, after pleading guilty, Findikoglu now faces only a maximum sentence of 57.5 years in jail.
