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European authorities dismantle international ATM crime group

October 3, 2016

Last month, authorities took down an international payment fraud network responsible for large-scale use of compromised payment card data, prostitution and money laundering.

The operation was conducted by Italian and Romanian authorities working in close cooperation with each other and with Europol, according to a press release.

The criminal network, comprised mostly of Romanian nationals, used sophisticated ATM skimming devices to compromise ATMs, as well as deceptive phishing techniques to perform a high volume of fraudulent transactions in Italy. Estimated losses ran into several hundred thousand euros, Europol said.

During the law enforcement operation, authorities searched multiple houses and detained 14 people, seven of whom were arrested in Italy and Romania. The operation also netted thousands of plastic cards ready to be encoded, along with micro camera bars, card readers, magnetic stripe readers and writers, computers, phones, flash drives, and several vehicles.