All the latest UK technology news, reviews and analysis

Black Hat: Gang uses high-tech in low-tech crime

by Iain Thomson

30 Jul 2010

Be the first to comment

  • Tweet this
black hat
A criminal gang used stolen images of cheques in a $9m scam

A criminal gang thought to be operating out of Russia has used technology to revive a very old form of fraud - writing bad cheques.

The criminals broke into three cheque archiving image sites, which are used to store pictures of all cheques that pass through retailers.

The gang downloaded 200,000 examples and used the account numbers, sort codes and signatures to write cheques drawn on over 1,200 legitimate accounts.

A team at Atlanta-based security firm SecureWorks uncovered the fraud, which is thought to have netted the gang at least $9m (£5.75m). The company is working with the FBI, but none of the gang has been arrested so far.

Counterfeit cheque writing is a very old form of fraud, but the gang had put a high-tech twist on it, explained Michael Cote, chief executive of SecureWorks.

The image sites involved have been notified, but others are no doubt being targeted, he warned.

The gang sent the bogus cheques to money mules around the world using overnight shipping paid for with stolen credit cards. SecureWorks said that six mules had been contacted, all of whom denied sending money to the gang.

The fraud involved 3,285 cheques against 1,280 accounts since June 2009. Most were for less than $3,000 (£1,920) in an attempt to evade anti-fraud measures.

Do you agree?

 

Add your comment

We won't publish your address
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms & Conditions. Your comment will be moderated before publication.

Poll

The workplace of the future poll - in association with IBM

What will be the biggest change to corporate technology in the future?

90%

5%

1%

3%

1%

Connect with V3.co.uk

Sign up to our daily or weekly newsletters

Riso

Colour printing: why the bill keeps outstripping the budget

The wrong printers, for the wrong tasks on the wrong contracts

Qlikview

Magic quadrant for business intelligence platforms

Who leads the BI pack and who should we be watching out for?

SQL DBA / Database Administrator

SQL DBA / Database Administrator with hands on commercial...

SAS-Credit Risk Manager-Retail Banking-£55K-West Yorkshire

SAS-Credit Risk Manager-Retail Banking-£55K-West Yorkshire...

Head of Decision Science-Credit Risk-£85K-South East

Head of Decision Science-Credit Risk-£85K-South East...

Credit Risk Manager-Financial Services-£60K-London

Credit Risk Manager-Financial Services-£60K-London...

Keep up to date with the latest products, services and technologies from the world's leading IT companies. IThound.com brings you over 2,000 white papers, case studies and analyst reports.

To send to more than one email address, simply separate each address with a comma.