Spanish police said Sunday eight people have been arrested who allegedly aided a global ring that stole $45 million from the Bank of Muscat and RAKBANK through fraudulent ATM withdrawals adding to arrests made by the U.S. and Germany in the scam.
Six Romanians and two Moroccans are accused of making 446 withdrawals totaling €285,000 (US$392,000) using cloned payment cards at ATMs in Madrid in February, according to a news release from Spain’s Interior Ministry. They’re also alleged to have stolen €68,000 in December 2012.
The well-planned thefts hit the banks twice, in December 2012 and in February, using a network of people who synchronised withdrawals using stolen payment card numbers at ATMs around the world.
U.S. federal prosecutors in New York indicted eight people last May and arrested six in early November. According to court documents, the withdrawal limits were raised on prepaid MasterCard and Visa payment cards.
The limits were increased as a result of a breach of credit card processors in the U.S. and India, which have not been identified.
Spain said its arrests came after Germany detained a key figure who compromised the credit card processors, disabling security features intended to protect accounts such as geographical restrictions and payment limits.
Those arrested in Spain are accused of receiving the prepaid debit card numbers and encoding the numbers onto dummy cards to make the withdrawals.
Spanish police released a video of a raid in which they seized €25,000, payment card encoding devices, 1,000 new magnetic-stripe cards, Apple and other computer equipment, jewellery, perfume and cologne.
The video showed the magnetic stripe card encoding devices, with the model number “MSR605,” which is widely available for under $200 on websites such as Amazon and eBay.
RAKBANK suffered $5 million in losses after 4,500 ATM withdrawals were made in 20 countries on 22nd December 2012. A second large attack between 19th-20th February saw the Bank of Muscat lose $40 million, withdrawn by people in 20 countries in just 10 hours.
The New York group is alleged to have withdrawn $2.8 million of RAKBANK’s money in thousands of transactions from 140 ATMs around New York. The bulk of it was sent to the organisers of the attacks, according to U.S. prosecutors.
The Interior Ministry said it worked with a U.S. agency on the latest arrests, but did not identify the organisation.
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