Cyber police exposed a criminal group in the appropriation of a million hryvnias through skimming
The attackers installed skimming equipment on POS terminals to read citizens' bank card data. Then the defendants made duplicates of cards and cashed the money of the victims. For their actions, they can be threatened with up to six years in prison.
The illegal activities of five residents of Kamensk were exposed by employees of the department of combating cybercrime in the Dnipropetrovsk region together with the investigators of the regional police.
The criminal scheme was developed by 31-year-old and 29-year-old men and involved three acquaintances. The defendants were temporarily employed in catering and retail establishments, in which POS terminals were used to calculate customers. In the future, attackers secretly installed skimming devices in these institutions, as well as self-made POS terminals.
Under the guise of paying customers through POS-terminals, those involved copied information from a bank card, as well as recorded PIN codes. The collected information was used by the group members to make duplicates of bank cards of the victims. Subsequently, the compromised cards were used to access Internet banking and thus increased credit limits and transferred money to controlled accounts. Subsequently, they withdrew cash at ATMs, bought goods and issued loans for victims.
According to preliminary data, the attackers compromised about 200 bank cards. The total amount of losses is one million hryvnias.
Police officers conducted searches in the homes of the defendants, as well as in institutions where members of the group used equipment to read information from bank cards. Skimmers, POS terminals, fake cards and computer equipment have been removed.
The organizer and co-organizer of the group has already been informed of the suspicion of committing criminal offenses provided for in Part 2 of Art. 185 (Theft), part 2 of Art. 200 (Illegal actions with transfer documents, payment cards and other means of access to bank accounts, electronic money, equipment for their manufacture), part 2 of Art. 361 (Unauthorized interference in the operation of computers, automated systems, computer networks or telecommunication networks) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Suspects have chosen a precautionary measure in the form of detention. They could face up to six years in prison. The issue of declaring suspicion to other members of the group is currently being resolved.
Cyber Police Department of the National Police of Ukraine