3 foreigners held over ATM cash grab
Print Edition
THREE foreigners have been arrested in Taiwan in connection with a US$2.5 million cash grab in which robbers used malware to hack into a bank’s ATM network, police said yesterday.
The robbers targeted the First Commercial Bank’s ATM network last week, withdrawing more than NT$81 million (US$2.5 million) from dozens of machines in three cities.
A Latvian suspect, named as Andrejs Peregudovs, was arrested by police in the northeastern county of Yilan after being spotted by an off duty police officer from Taipei who was on holiday.
Two other suspects from Romania and Moldova were also arrested on Sunday, at a hotel in Taipei, police said, adding that they believed the heist was carried out by a 16-member international crime ring.
Police said they had recovered more than half the stolen money, but warned that 13 suspects — including five Russians — had already fled the island after the robbery.
“We will continue to search for the rest of the stolen money to let international hackers know that Taiwan is not a crime haven,” the statement said.
Police said they had sought assistance from both Interpol and Russia’s representative office in Taiwan.
Surveillance images released by the bank showed masked robbers working in two-man teams targeting 41 ATMs belonging to the First Commercial Bank in three cities.
It is not clear how the thieves installed malware on the ATMs, but within five to 10 minutes, the thieves can be seen walking away with bags full of cash, the bank said.
After the theft was discovered, more than 1,000 ATMs of the same type that had been targeted in the heist had been shut down by banks across the island.
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