[UPDATE] According to Tech Central, Standard Bank said that it has been the victim of the fraud. The target of the fraud has been Standard Bank and there has been no financial loss for customers,” Standard Bank spokesman Ross Linstrom said on Monday.

[ORIGINAL STORY]

An as-yet unnamed South African bank has been implicated in one of the most audacious automatic teller machine heists the island nation of Japan has ever seen.

According to news sources, an international crime syndicate co-ordinated over 14 000 cash withdrawals from the ATM system, using counterfeit credit cards with account details stolen from the South African bank.

After calculations by the Japanese authorities, the amount stolen has been pegged at $12.7 million. In rand terms, that’s R198.1 million.

In order to solve the crime and apprehend anybody involved, Interpol will work together with Japanese and South African police.

According to The Mainichi Japan, “…the theft at convenience store ATMs took place in the morning of May 15 in Tokyo and 16 prefectures across the country, and police believe over 100 people might have co-ordinated in the unlawful withdrawal.”

Authorities in Japan have detailed that the 14 000 transactions drew the maximum amount of 100 000 yen ($911) from Seven Bank’s ATMs by using over 1 600 counterfeit credit cards.

According to The Guardian, “…reports suggest that members of the gang may no longer be in Japan. By using cards that were issued in a different country from the one in which the fraud took place – and on a day of the week when banks were closed – they were probably able to buy themselves enough time to leave the country before their crime was discovered.”

At the time of writing, no South African bank has admitted to a data breach that could have contained the account information used in the heist.

[Image – CC by 2.0/Miles Rausch]