Spain arrests eight over global bank cyber heists

Tuesday, 31 December 2013 00:01 -     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: Spanish police on Sunday said they had arrested eight people suspected of helping to steal more than $60 million from banks worldwide by hacking into credit card processing firms and withdrawing money from cash machines. The arrests are one of the biggest breakthroughs yet outside the United States in connection with a series of global bank heists, coordinated across numerous countries by cells which withdrew millions of dollars in a matter of hours. Spanish police said in a statement they had detained six Romanian citizens and two Moroccans on the outskirts of Madrid, and seized 25,000 euros in cash as well as around 1,000 blank credit cards, IT material and jewels after several building searches. The statement said the global hacking gang had been controlled by a single person, who had been arrested in Germany. The police could not be reached for comment on when the alleged mastermind had been detained. German prosecutors said in May they had arrested two Dutch citizens suspected of taking part in a $45 million cyber heist involving two Middle Eastern banks.

COMMENTS