Trio pleads guilty to $2 million Citi ATM scam that linked U.S. to Russia
November 6, 2008
Ars Technica:Three people accused of helping steal $2 million from Citibank customers using stolen debit card numbers and PINs have pleaded guilty to access-device fraud and federal conspiracy charges. The trio — Ivan Biltse, Angelina Kitaeva and Yuriy Rakushchynets — used stolen card numbers to withdraw cash from ATMs across New York and sent the proceeds to Russia.
The story goes back to 2007, when a hacker from Russia apparently cracked Citibank's ATM server and was able to steal account and PIN numbers when people withdrew money from various cash machines. That hacker then had Rakushchynets, Biltse, and Kitaeva — along with up to seven others located in the United States — burn the card numbers to the magnetic stripes of fake debit cards, which were then used to withdraw cash from the accounts.