Ever wonder how to rob a bank? A Turkish bank robber is happy to teach you on YouTube.
Officials at the RSA Conference in London revealed this week that notorious Turkish hacker / bank robber Cagatay Evyapan, a/k/a "Cha0," used YouTube to teach would-be criminals how to steal money from ATMs.
Cha0's modus operandi was to affix devices on top of ATMs called "skimmers," which look like they're part of the bank machine but actually capture people's ATM card data and PIN (the University of Texas has a good breakdown of how the scam works). But which ATMs should hackers target, and how not to get caught? Cha0's online training video offers some advice:
- Don't try to use skimmers in towns with fewer than 15,000 people. The police know what all the ATMs should look like and will notice changes
- Don't try to install skimmers in the morning, when people are at their most vigilant. Wait for the evening.
- A great target is an ATM that's the only such machine near a cash-only bar
The whole thing is set to the soundtrack from Fight Club:
Funny stuff. But don't take Cha0 for some sort of likable rogue. To find the thief, Turkish police relied on a hacker-turned-informant named "Kier" to track him down. Shortly after setting off to find Cha0, Kier disappeared. Kidnap pictures of Kier later surfaced on web sites Cha0 frequents -- with the man beaten, stripped to his underwear, and holding a sign that read "I am rat. I am pig. I am reporter. I am f*cked by Cha0."
See Also:
Researchers Dupe 1,000 Facebook Users Into Downloading Malicious App
Court Muzzles Hackers Who Wanted To Explain How To Get Free Subway Rides
Can Hackers Punish You Just For Looking At A Picture?
Uber-Hacker Kevin Mitnick Signs Tell-All Book Deal
