Scores Charged in Theft of Millions From US Banks Through Cyberattacks

(Sept. 30) -- More than than 60 people were indicted today on charges of stealing millions of dollars from U.S. bank accounts through mischievous computer attacks.

In announcing the local and federal indictments, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of New York said that modern high-tech bank heists no longer require "a gun, a mask, a note or a getaway car. ... It requires only the Internet and ingenuity. And it can be accomplished in the blink of an eye, with just a click of the mouse."

Authorities said the cyberattacks began in Eastern Europe with the e-mailing of a malware known as "Zeus Trojan."

The e-mails were sent to municipalities and small businesses in the United States, and once they were opened, the malware embedded itself in the computers, recording keystrokes of account numbers and passwords when users logged into bank accounts, the U.S. attorney's office said.

The hackers then got into the accounts and transferred money into bank accounts under fictitious names set up by a "money mule organization." The accounts were set up by people who had entered the U.S. on student visas, authorities said.

After that, the "mules" were instructed to transfer the funds -- most of it overseas -- or to withdraw the money and transport it out of the country as bulk cash.

"The Zeus Trojan allegedly allowed the hackers, from thousands of miles away, to get their hands on other people's money -- with far less exertion than a safe cracker or a bank robber," said Janice K. Fedarcyk, head of the New York FBI.

Authorities said that 10 people were arrested today and 10 had been previously arrested. On top of that, the Manhattan district attorney's office had previously arrested about 19 people in 2009 and 2010 in these schemes.

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In all, between both federal and local cases, the ring was suspected of stealing well over $3 million, authorities said.

The defendants are from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus and were recruited through social networking sites and newspaper advertisements, according to the Manhattan district attorney's office.

Authorities said those charged in local and federal court included managers and recruiters for the money mule organization, a person who obtained false passports for the money mules and the money mules themselves.

Authorities said the investigators were continuing to look at people higher up in the chain.