Europol praised international cooperation for having a big role in taking down the cybercriminals.
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Five members of an international organised cybercrime group have been arrested and three of them convicted so far as a result of a investigation by law enforcement agencies from Europe and Asia.
The group used a variety of different cyberattacks to infect ATMs and force them to dispense money.
Tactics included the use of spear-phishing emails containing attachments containing malware to disrupt systems, penetration of the banks’ internal networks and compromising and controlling the network of ATMs, all while using software to delete almost all traces of the criminal activity.
Members of the organised crime gang were recruited online, with most members being citizens of more than one country, something which helped them travel and carry out crimes across the globe.
But following an investigation which started a year ago, three arrests have been made by the Taiwanese Criminal Investigation Bureau, one has been made by the Romanian National Police and one arrest has been made by the Belarusian Central Office of the Investigative Committee.
Europol has credited the success of the scheme to international cooperation by police across the globe.
“The majority of cybercrimes have an international dimension, taking into account the origins of suspects and places where crimes are committed. Only through a coordinated approach at the global level between law enforcement agencies can we successfully track down the criminal networks behind such large-scale frauds and bring them to justice,” says Steve Wilson, Head of Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3).
Losses caused to banks is estimated to be around 3 million Euros, although in some cases, the stolen money has been partially recovered from the perpetrators.
