Criminals Steal 1.44 billion Yen ($13 million) from 1,400 ATMs in 2½ hours

You often read about malicious actors targeting users with small scale phishing or malware attack to steal cash out but when it comes to banks and ATMs these criminal elements go to any level and that’s what has happened in Japan where law enforcement authorities are investigating an incident in which a group of more than 100 cyber criminals has allegedly stolen 1.44 billion yen $13 million USD from 1,400 convenience stores from automated teller machines (ATM) all over the country in just 2½ hours on May 15.

According to the Japan News, a group of international cyber criminals used fake credit cards using leaked data from a South African bank hence investigations on an international level will be conducted with the help of Interpol. The Japanese police are also planning to find the culprits with the help of security cameras

The targeted ATMs were installed in the city of Aichi, Fukuoka, Kanagawa, Osaka and Tokyo while the gang withdrew 100,000 Yen from all 1400 ATMs. The daily withdrawal limit per machine was 100,000 Yan making it exactly 1.44 billion Yen.

The year 2016 has been a bad year for the banking sector as Anonymous conducts OpIcarus against banking and financial institutions and other elements are either stealing millions or leaking highly confidential data from the International banks.

The recent Qatar National Bank data leak and Bangladesh Central Bank losing $81 million are two examples among many, however, the Japanese ATM scandal is a good example of how the leaked data can be used to steal a large amount of money without any suspicion. It also exposes the dangers of leaked data publicly available on the Internet.