In a coordinated attack spanning 130 ATMs in 49 cities, a group of hackers managed to suck dry bank accounts totalling over $9 million, according to an admission by RBS Worldpay, a payment processing company that oversaw the accounts.
The attack actually occurred in November, but the extent of the fraud was only revealed yesterday by some investigative reporting by — of all things — Fox 5 News in New York. I’m thinking one of those cards belonged to a certain Murdoch…
If you think this kind of scam is only found in Terminator movies, I’m afraid you’re wrong. It’s essentially identity theft on a large scale, and anyone who’s had that happen to them (twice for me) knows it’s not some fairy tale crime. However, a coordinated attack on this level is certainly exceptional, and reflects pretty poorly on the guys in charge — which is why they’re being sued.
RBS Worldpay admitted last month that about 100 accounts had been hacked, opening the possibility of cloned cards being used at ATMs at any time. They didn’t mention that fully nine mil had been siphoned off. Not that there was much they could have done; if the scammers wait and cash out the accounts all at one time, scam protection schemes are ineffective, especially when the accounts had all had the withdraw limits removed so they could be emptied completely.
Good lord. I’m keeping all my money under the mattress with my shotgun from here on out. My cash is too valuable to be counted in bits and bytes. Ain’t no thievin’ nerds gonna take my hard-earned ducats!