Police release CCTV images of suspects in ATM hacking cases

Two of the Latin American men involved in the recent spate of high-tech robberies at ATM machines across a few states. - September 30, 2014.Police today released several images of individuals suspected to be members of a Latin American syndicate responsible for the hacking and theft of more than RM1 million from ATMs in Johor, Selangor and Malacca over the weekend.

The images were from the close circuit television cameras installed at several ATM kiosks where the crime took place.

Federal Commercial Crime director Datuk Seri Mortadza Nazarene said initial investigations showed that the suspects had opened a panel on top of the ATMs using a common key before inserting a compact disc into the CD-ROM located in the machine to inject a malware known as ulssm.exe.

This is the first time in Malaysia that a virus or a malware has been used to steal money from ATMs.

"After infecting the machine with the malware, the suspects removed the CD and relocked the panel before starting to withdraw money from the machine," said Mortadza.

He said the suspects will wait for instructions from other syndicate members who would also provide them with codes by phone. The codes would then be entered through the normal way using the ATM keypad.

The virus then reboots the ATM system and allows the syndicate to withdraw money multiple times from the targeted machines.

More suspects wanted by the police for the ATM robberies. - September 30, 2014.Mortadza said the suspects would then stuff the ATM card slot with a SIM card or cigarette butts to prevent others from using the machine.

This is believed to be a delay tactic so the tampering would not be immediately detected.

So, far seven cases have been reported involving three banks.

Police have set up a special task force to investigate the cases.

They have also launched a special operation called Ops Albatross to hunt down the suspects and bring them to book.

Those with information on this case are urged to contact Senior Assistant Commissioner Mohd Kamarudin Md Din at 03-26163839 or the nearest police station.

- TMI