Encomium
About £9 million was stolen in just under three hours from several ATMs in Japan in the early hours of May 15, 2016, before banks opened.
The cash was simultaneously withdrawn across Tokyo and up to 16 other areas using as many as 1,600 fake credit cards that contained confidential account information stolen from the South African institution standard bank.
According to local media, the police suspects that more than 100 members of an international crime gangsters were behind the meticulously planned robbery and serious investigation is ongoing.
The raids are believed to have started early in the morning between the hours of 5am and 8am respectively when banks were closed as this would give them opportunity to disappear before police investigated.
The standard bank made an estimated gross loss of 13million pounds but currently it is not clear why the bank’s losses are greater than the supposed amount of cash stolen by the syndicate.
Although Japanese police are examining security camera footage to track down suspects, they are currently working with Standard Bank and Interpol to investigate how the data was stolen. So far, no suspect has been tracked down.
Ngozi Uwalaka for encomium.ng
