US indicts multi-million dollar ATM jackpotting scheme actors

Fifty-four suspected members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, who were part of a massive ATM jackpotting scheme that involved the deployment of the Ploutus malware, have been charged by the U.S. Department of Justice, reports The Hacker News.

Multiple individuals were purportedly recruited by the TdA members to inject the Ploutus malware in various ATMs following initial reconnaissance, with the payload aiming to misleads bank and credit union employees while also conducting self-deletion to ensure stealthy operations, according to the Justice Department, which noted that the accused hackers could face maximum imprisonment ranging from 20 years to 335 years as a result of the charges.

"These defendants employed methodical surveillance and burglary techniques to install malware into ATM machines, and then steal and launder money from the machines, in part to fund terrorism and the other far-reaching criminal activities of TDA, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department's Criminal Division.