Security News > 2020 > June > Romanian Skimmer Gang in Mexico Outed by KrebsOnSecurity Stole $1.2 Billion
An exhaustive inquiry published today by a consortium of investigative journalists says a three-part series KrebsOnSecurity published in 2015 on a Romanian ATM skimming gang operating in Mexico's top tourist destinations disrupted their highly profitable business, which raked in an estimated $1.2 billion and enjoyed the protection of top Mexican authorities.
The multimedia investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and several international journalism partners detailed the activities of the so-called Riviera Maya crime gang, allegedly a mafia-like group of Romanians who until very recently ran their own ATM company in Mexico called "Intacash" and installed sophisticated electronic card skimming devices inside at least 100 cash machines throughout Mexico.
Unlike most skimmers - which can be detected by looking for out-of-place components attached to the exterior of a compromised cash machine - these skimmers were hooked to the internal electronics of ATMs operated by Intacash's competitors by authorized personnel who'd reportedly been bribed or coerced by the gang.
An ATM industry source told KrebsOnSecurity at the time that his technicians had been approached by ATM installers affiliated with Intacash, offering those technicians many times their monthly salaries if they would provide periodic access to the machines they maintained.
"And on the Internet, the number of complaints grew. Foreign tourists in Mexico fleeced" by Intacash's ATMs. Many of the compromised ATMs I located in my travels throughout Mexico were at hotels, and while Intacash's ATMs could be found on many street locations in the region, it was rare to find them installed at hotels.