The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently warned banks that cybercriminals would carry out an ATM cash-out in banks around the world and Kenya was not exempted.
According to the FBI, the ATM cash out is an operation that gives thieves access to untold sums of money through bypassing security measures and if successful, the operation has the potential to be a heist unlike any we've seen before.
The FBI stated: "The FBI has obtained unspecified reporting indicating cybercriminals are planning to conduct a global Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cash-out scheme in the coming days, likely associated with an unknown card issuer breach and commonly referred to as an ‘unlimited operation."
These illegal operations compromise financial institutions or payment processors by installing malware that allows hackers to exploit network access, allowing admin-level access.
[caption caption="The J. Edgar Hoover building, the headquarters of the FBI"]
[/caption]
When they access the banks, the scammers disable fraud protection, raise maximum ATM withdrawal amounts and transaction limits additionally there can be the withdrawal of large sums of money which could amount to millions, potentially.
The American Bureau noted that for the scammers to carry out the attack they only needed debit and credit card numbers found on the dark web and dummy cards also known as 'blanks' to attach them to numbers.
A statement from the FBI further read: "The cybercriminals typically create fraudulent copies of legitimate cards by sending stolen card data to co-conspirators who imprint the data on reusable magnetic strip cards, such as gift cards purchased at retail stores."
The statement further added: "At a pre-determined time, the co-conspirators withdraw account funds from ATMs using these cards."
These attacks were reported to likely be launched on weekends, typically after the institutions close for business on Saturday.
[caption caption="FBI agents"]
[/caption]
However, no further details were shared and no timeline was given as to when this “cash-out” may occur.
