$12.7 million in 3 Hours

It took thieves in Japan just three hours to steal $12.7 million from Seven Bank ATMs. A crew of 100 criminals helped themselves to $12.7 million from 1,400 ATMs located in small convenience stores across Japan. The heist took place on May 15 between 0500 and 0800. The thieves extracted $9,000 per transaction, the limit for Japanese ATMs.

ATM malware or the ubiquitous ATM skimming hardware are typically preferred by global criminal networks. However, Japanese police have suggested that the information leaked from Standard Bank of South South Africa.

Standard Bank customers are said to be protected from the losses. The bank itself will be made to pay for its security oversight. Questions have been asked (and left unanswered) as to how both Seven Bank and Standard Bank failed to take note of (and act on) the flood of transactions that came through their networks in a relatively short space of time.

As of 26/5/16 the thieves remain at large.