Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) is currently investigating a case in which hackers withdrew Rs 10 million from ATMs of several banks in Lahore.
According to the contents of an FIR registered in FIA Cyber Crime Lahore Circle, in the second week of February, more than Rs 10 million was withdrawn from 14 ATMs overnight.
Muhammad Shakeel, an officer investigating the case, told Urdu News that "this was done by the same gang and this time it was not a scam."
That is to say, they did not target and steal the information of any user's ATM, but they cut the data cables, connected them to a device and hacked the money out of the system.
"The cameras at the ATMs were bad, so it is known that the hackers first did Reiki well and then targeted various ATMs," he said. However, CCTV cameras inside some of the machines worked. Were.'
"Their footage has been obtained and teams are identifying the culprits. Information is also being exchanged with NADRA and other agencies in this regard."
A spokesman for the FIA confirmed to Urdu News that the cyber crime wing was investigating the matter, so more information could not be shared with the media at this time, while the culprits would be arrested soon.
According to FIA officials, there are an average of 2,000 cases of electronic banking crimes in Pakistan each year, with money laundering at the top of the list using people's bank account information.
However, this is the first case of its kind in which hackers have directly hacked the system. According to the investigating officer, "you can call it theft in a way that it did not withdraw money from people's accounts but the machines were opened electronically."
FIA officials say the important thing is that all these machines were new. Recently, the State Bank of Pakistan had issued orders to banks to upgrade ATM machines, upgrade debit and credit cards. Almost all banks have upgraded their systems. Surprisingly, the machines of the same company have been opened.
It may be recalled that the State Bank of Pakistan has instructed all Pakistani banks to upgrade their systems and bring their ATM machines up to the new international standards from the year 2020. New ATM machines can also be logged in with a thumbprint and money can be withdrawn by touching the card.
According to the investigating officer, "one of the problems with the CCTV footage being investigated is that the accused had covered their faces."
That is why the scope of the investigation has now been widened. Assistance is also being sought from the Safe City Authority in this regard so that the culprits can be identified through their movement on the streets. We believe that these accused will be brought to justice soon.
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