FBI warning: ‘ATM cash-out’ hack could see millions withdrawn from banks

The FBI has issued a warning to all banks worldwide that a scheme known as “ATM cash-out” will be carried out by cybercriminals, in which they aim to hack a bank account using cloned cards to withdraw millions of dollars.

“The FBI has obtained unspecified reporting indicating cyber criminals are planning to conduct a global Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cash-out scheme in the coming days, likely associated with an unknown card issuer breach and commonly referred to as an ‘unlimited operation,’” read an alert the FBI shared on Friday.

The FBI stated that this scheme can access personal information about cardholders as well as a customer bank accounts.

“Historic compromises have included small-to-medium size financial institutions, likely due to less robust implementation of cyber security controls, budgets, or third-party vendor vulnerabilities,” the alert added.

“The FBI expects the ubiquity of this activity to continue or possibly increase in the near future.”

As part of the scheme, the hackers will remove any restrictions; such as the limit on withdrawing specific amounts of cash and how many times money can be withdrawn per day.

The intruders will also ensure there is a large amount of money present in the account they target, in order to steal the amount needed from just one time.

“The cyber criminals typically create fraudulent copies of legitimate cards by sending stolen card data to co-conspirators who imprint the data on reusable magnetic strip cards, such as gift cards purchased at retail stores,” the FBI warned.

“ATM cash-out” is expected to take place mainly on weekends when banks are closed.