New York Cyber Criminals Part of Major Bank Heist

Various scenes of the bank heist from ATM machines in New York City.
Photo credit: CNN Money

Seven New York cyber criminals were charged in playing a part in the major "21st Century Bank Heist" that involved the stealing of $45 million from ATM machines. The heist employed criminals from around the world. Members of this global crime organization hacked 2 credit card processors and used stolen data to make over 40,500 ATM withdrawals in 27 countries. There was 2 separate incidents, one in December 2012 and one in February 2013. The individuals were charged with participating in the larger scheme by withdrawing $2.8 million in thousands of ATM transactions.

This is being called the largest bank robbery in the history of New York City by U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch. It is unknown where the headquarters of the heist originated, but Lynch said that it is likely that it was outside the United States. In December, hackers hacked into an Indian credit card processor that handled prepaid Mastercard debit cards for National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah PSC, or RAKBANK. In February, they hacked into the system of a U.S. credit card processor to sceal account numbers for prepaid Mastercard debit cards issued by the bank of Muscat. 

Seven of the eight defendants have been arrested. They have been identified and their names are Jael Mejia Collado, Joan Luis Minier Lara, Evan Jose Pena, Jose Familia Reyes, Elvis Rafael Rodriguez, Emir Yasser Yeje and Chung Yu-Holguin. All are U.S. citizens and are residents of Yonkers.

See how they did it here:

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