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By telling you about it, we may be spoiling a future made-for-television movie plot. It’s got all the twists and turns that producers and directors strive for.
In any given day, approximately 200 million pounds are withdrawn from the 21,000 ATMs scattered throughout the United Kingdom. Held within the computers that service these machines are the intimate details on an estimated 30 million accounts.
Enter a group of seven modern-day Robin Hoods. The only difference is that they intended to rob from the rich banks and give to their poor selves. With a plan approaching a Mission Impossible plot, they intended to break into the dedicated telephone lines that link the ATMs to computers at the bank headquarters. This would be accomplished with a little bit of help from their friends – some corrupt British Telephone officials.
Once they had tapped into the phone lines, they’d steal massive amounts of information as it was being transmitted. The plan called for the use of computer code-breaking programs to unravel the codes, to be followed by a mass cloning of account cards. Finally, a dedicated force of ATM thieves would hit machines throughout the UK and withdraw, withdraw, withdraw.
Fraud officials from the card companies teamed up with the police to raid one conspirator’s home. There they found 30,000 blank cards ready to be used and another 3,000 cards with partial information already in place.
Even though the ring was broken up before any real damage could be done, there remains a question about whether the plot could have worked. The banks do not believe the encryption codes for the PIN numbers could have been broken.
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