Spain breaks up cybercrime gang after $1.2 billion spree
Source: Associated Press
MADRID (AP) — Police in Spain have captured a cybercrime gang made up of Ukrainians and Russians that allegedly stole more than 1 billion euros ($1.24 billion) from financial institutions worldwide in a five-year spree, authorities said Monday.
The gang’s alleged mastermind, identified as a Ukrainian and named only as “Denis K.,” was arrested in the coastal city of Alicante, 350 kilometers (220 miles) southeast of Madrid, according to statements issued by Spanish police and European Union law enforcement agency Europol.
Three suspected accomplices, said to be Russian and Ukrainian, were also arrested. Authorities didn’t say when the arrests took place.
The gang used malware to target more than 100 financial institutions worldwide, sometimes stealing up to 10 million euros in each heist. Almost all of Russia’s banks were targeted, and about 50 of them lost money in the attacks, authorities said.
The gang sent phishing emails with a malicious attachment to bank workers, Europol said. The software gave the gang remote control of infected machines, providing them with access to the internal banking network and infecting servers controlling ATMs.
ATMs were instructed to dispense cash at a pre-determined time, and the money was collected by organized crime groups supporting the main gang.
The gang converted its illicit gains into bitcoins and used the cryptocurrency to purchase assets, including houses and vehicles, in Spain.
Read more: https://www.apnews.com/187814286d7147aebf3b670623aeea51
Wonder what non Russian banks were targeted.
= new reply since forum marked as read
people who are ravaging their nations, legally and otherwise, operatjng beyond and regardless of the law. This is really good news and yet another indicator that these types have become far too big and harmful for not just the good of the nations they're rampaging in but for their own good. Including in the U.S.
Rapacious, overreaching greed for power and wealth is as old as mankind, of course, but we've never had it enabled by the internet age and the new vast growth of wealth before. First the problem develops, then we get hurt, then we get badly hurt and scared, then we fix it. That's the usual pattern, and we're seeing it here.
