On April 26, Romanian law enforcement authorities reported the arrest of 25 suspects believed to be members of a sophisticated international gang of cybercriminals responsible for stealing more than $15 million from banks in Puerto Rico and Muscat, Oman.
Cyberthreat intelligence analysts believe that these suspects are connected to a massive $45 million cash-out heist that occurred between 2012 and 2013. In both schemes, fraudsters hacked into banks’ computer networks, compromising card data to create counterfeit payment cards. The cloned cards were then used to make significant fraudulent ATM withdrawals in numerous countries. Furthermore, the time frame and locations in which these large-scale heists occurred mirror each other, providing additional evidence that the two crimes are connected. International law enforcement officials have not yet confirmed the link between the two schemes.
