A group of eight Dominicans are accused of being responsible for major bank robberies in December 2012 and February this year. Fox News reports on how the technical sophistication shown by the Dominicans has impressed cybercrime investigators. The Dominicans, aged between 22-35, are accused of having been involved in the recent US$45 million dollar ATM heist.
“Instead of guns and masks, this cybercrime organization used laptops and the internet,” said US attorney Loretta Lynch told the press.
A report in Diario Libre says that the international cyber-gang cloned debit cards belonging to leading Dominican businessmen and show business personalities issued by leading Dominican banks, according to a Dominican police source. Press reports suggest that people in the US and the DR were the most vulnerable because electronic cards have not yet been replaced by the chip and pin technology now prevalent in Europe. But there were also victims in 25 other countries, including Argentina, Colombia, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Romania, Estonia, Lithuania and Malaysia.
On Thursday 9 May, US investigators revealed that a gang had hit cash machines in 27 countries in two attacks and seven Dominicans were named in the scam. The first hit netted US$5 million in December 2012, and then another US$40 million in February 2013 in a 10-hour spree that involved around 36,000 bank transactions.
The scam was pulled off when hackers got into bank databases, eliminated withdrawal limits on prepaid debit cards and created access codes.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York released a photo of two Dominicans, Elvis Rafael Rodriguez and Emir Yasser Yeje posing with bundles of cash allegedly stolen using the bogus magnetic swipe cards at cash machines throughout New York. Prosecutors in New York revealed on 9 May 2013 that the two were members of a worldwide gang of criminals that drained cash machines of US$45 million.
23-year old Alberto Yusi Lajud Pena, identified as leader of the Dominican gang members, was murdered in San Francisco de Macoris on 27 April by a relative who tried to steal US$100,000 he had with him in the house where he was playing dominos. Lajud Pena had recently returned to the DR fleeing prosecution in the US. Two people are under arrest for the murder.
Diario Libre reports that the Police arrested Lajud on 23 March 2012 and sent him to jail in San Francisco de Macoris but was able to secure his release. In August 2012 he was arrested again but also managed to get out. He was known to carry out fraudulent operations using cloned cards, when he took his knowhow abroad. One press report indicated he linked up with a Russian operation for the international side.
A report in Listin Diario on Saturday 10 May, says that the collaboration of the Dominican Police was key for the US authorities being able to locate and arrest seven Dominicans who made up the US branch of the international gang of cybercriminals.
The other Dominicans have been identified as Jael Mejia Collado, Joan Luis Minier Lara, Evan Jose Pena, Jose Familia Reyes, Elvis Rafael Rodriguez, Emir Yasser Yeje and Chung Yu Holguin. They have been charged in the US with conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering. The eight are accused of taking US$2.8m from hundreds of New York ATMs in a day.
“If convicted, the defendants face a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment on each of the money laundering charges and 7.5 years on the conspiracy to commit access device fraud charge, restitution, and up to US$250,000 in fines,” the US attorney’s office said.
www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2013/5/10/276523/PN-colaboro-en-captura-de-piratass
www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2013/05/11/i383112_gran-estafa-tarjetas-afecto-empresarios-artistas-dominicanos.html
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2013/05/11/dominican-led-bank-heist-impresses-cybercrime-experts/