105 Nabbed In Malaysia Credit Card Fraud Ring

Late last week, The Register reported that 105 suspects of credit card fraud were arrested in Asia and Europe after a cybercrime ring was busted by authorities.

The investigation spanned two continents and targeted the fraud gang, which was led out of Malaysia and eventually reached 14 countries in Europe.

The suspects are accused of using counterfeit credit cards to buy luxury goods, and house searches of the accused resulted in the discovery of 3,000 fraudulent payment cards.

During the raid, authorities also found cash, jewelry, cameras and fake passports.

It’s estimated that the losses from the cybercrime activities reached €5 million.

In a statement, Wil van Gemert, Europol deputy director of operations, said:

“The majority of the payment card fraud crimes have an international dimension, taking into account the origins of suspects, places where cards were obtained and illegal transactions made. Only through a coordinated approach at the global level between industry and law enforcement can we successfully track down the criminal networks behind such large-scale frauds and bring them to justice.”

Another international criminal group thought to be behind a year-long series of malware attacks on ATMs across Europe was dismantled earlier this year.

The operation to take down the gang, which was overseen by the Romanian National Police and the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crimes and Terrorism (DIICOT), assisted by Europol and Eurojust, as well as a number of European law enforcement authorities, resulted in multiple house raids and the arrest of eight suspects.

The criminals allegedly used a specific type of malware called Tyupkin, which was discovered by Kaspersky Lab and INTERPOL back in 2014. Tyupkin malware is used to infect ATMs and allows attackers to remove money via direct manipulation.

In a press release from Europol, the group is accused of inflicting “substantial losses across Europe to the ATM industry” through its malicious actions and is believed to have stolen millions of dollars from infected ATMs.