Gang of 23 Turkish-Russian Hackers Rob Users’ Bank Accounts

Turkish and Russian hackers spread a harmful virus to tap users' online banking details and used them to steal money from their bank accounts. Officials in Istanbul and other provinces of the country are dealing with the criminals and their activities. The hackers' gang comprising of 23 people is believed to have stolen 10 million YTL.

The Istanbul Financial Crimes Unit had received a complaint from a person that money from his account had been moved out without his knowledge or consent. Immediately, the Unit teams started an investigation into the case. Police came to know that the fraudsters managed to obtain the bank account details of their targeted victims by dispatching a virus-laden e-mail after which the hackers were able to empty the victims' bank accounts. Police found that Serhiy Andrusyak, a citizen of Ukraine was the main culprit behind the embezzlement of accounts. However, they could not trace his location early on as he used various IP addresses to conduct the transactions.

But when police eventually found Andrusyak in the Fatih district of Istanbul, they arrested him. Officials found that Andrusyak collected 500,000 YTL as commissions for surreptitiously transferring money from the innocent account holders to the fake accounts of the gangsters.

As more businesses accept online transactions, the instances of Internet fraud increases, said Jemma Smith, a spokeswoman for Apacs. Herald Tribune reported this, second week of May 2007. The problem lies more in criminals targeting the customers than the use of the technology behind it. It is less of breaking into PCs and more of tricking users into divulging their card and account information, Smith added.

Just last month in May, Columbia Bank, rated as the top bank in Fair Lawn in terms of market deposit share suffered a security breach. Following this the bank notified its online customers who could have been victims of identity theft. CEO Raymond Hallock said the hacker(s) managed to access the names and Social Security numbers of its customers who used the banking online services thereby affecting them in some form or the other. Humc.com reported this on May 22, 2007.

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» SPAMfighter News - 6/16/2007