Russian police have arrested four men on suspicion of stealing around $500,000 from US bank accounts in a cross border ATM scam, according to press reports.
The gang allegedly used cloned bank cards to make fraudulent cash withdrawals at ATMs in Moscow.
Russian police have reportedly said they believe the suspects were working with accomplices in the US - possibly bank employees - who provided them with card and PIN numbers for US accounts, which they used to make the fake cards in their apartment.
Irina Volk, a spokeswoman for the economic crimes unit of the Moscow police, told reporters that more than 100 forged cards and US$60,000 were found in the apartment, as well as a database containing information about accounts in the US, Canada and France.
Volk said the funds were stolen from accounts of US citizens who had never been to Russia. She said police know that the suspects stole about US$500,000 but believe the actual sum could be higher.
According to the reports, the gang repeatedly withdrew money at the same 10 ATMs in Moscow. The suspects were captured after police installed video cameras near the targeted units.
Last month the Bank of New Zealand was caught up is a cross border ATM fraud when cards skimmed from an ATM in Auckland were used by criminals in Toronto, Canada to steal NZ$49,000 from customer accounts.
Earlier this year Citibank imposed transaction blocks on an unspecified number of US card accounts after fraudsters managed to steal customer's funds in a cross-border ATM scam. The American bank was forced to re-issue cards following fraudulent ATM cash withdrawls in the UK, Russia and Canada on customer accounts that may have been compromised following a security breach at an undisclosed US retailer.