First Bank

Two Russians suspected of stealing NT$70 million from First Bank ATMs flee to Hong Kong

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• published: 13 Jul 2016
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This past weekend two Russian nationals managed to withdraw NT$70 million from 34 different First Bank ATMs over two days before taking a plane to Hong Kong yesterday morning. In the first such case seen in Taiwan, the suspects were able to withdraw the cash without inserting any ATM cards or using the keypads on the machines, leading authorities to believe that malicious software was to blame for the breach. Without inserting a card or touching the machine’s keypad, the two suspects were able to make this ATM operated by First Bank spit out a big pile of thousand-NT-dollar bills.Yeh Chung-hueiFirst Bank SpokespersonIt is possible that a piece of malware uploaded onto the ATM was able to activate its cash-dispensing module and cause it to produce bills. This wasn’t done through any account-related systems, but was performed directly on the ATM.The two suspects, both of Russian nationality, made a total haul of NT$70 million over multiple withdrawals this past Saturday and Sunday. By the time authorities launched an investigation into the incident, they had already left the country.Huang Kuo-shuTaipei City Daan Precinct Investigative DivisionAt the start of work this past Monday morning, after looking at recordings from the bank’s security cameras, we were able to confirm that the criminals used non-standard methods to steal cash from the ATM machines.According to preliminary reports, the First Bank ATMs robbed by the suspects were manufactured by German company Wincor. Over 900 other ATMs of the same model which are still in use by various banks across Taiwan have been temporarily shut down pending additional safety tests.