Fraudsters  stole US$45 million from RAKBank and BankMuscat in one of the Middle East's biggest cyberheists.
Fraudsters stole US$45 million from RAKBank and BankMuscat in one of the Middle East's biggest cyberheists.

Eight charged in US over $45 million cyber crime on UAE and Oman banks



An international crime gang has stolen US$45 million from RAKBank and BankMuscat, in one the biggest cyber frauds to hit the Middle East.

Eight alleged members of the syndicate’s cell in New York have been charged in the US with conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering.

The crime network hacked into the systems of banks around the world, removed maximum limits for withdrawal at ATMs and stole details of pre-paid debit cards, said the US attorney’s office for the eastern district of New York.

“The stolen card data was then … used in making fraudulent ATM withdrawals on a massive scale across the globe,” the office said.

Prepaid cards are like debit cards, but instead of being linked to a bank account they have their own funds that are topped up like a prepaid mobile phone account.

The eight are accused of taking $2.8m (Dh10.2m) from hundreds of New York ATMs in a day.

Graham Honeybill, chief executive of RAKBank, moved to reassure customers.

“The amount of the potential loss was Dh17.4m and this was fully provided for before the bank closed its 2012 accounts,” he said.

“The bank can confirm none of its customers suffered any financial loss as a result of this fraud.

“We are given to understand that the overall fraud encompassed a number of banks, not only in the Middle East but in the US and other countries. The incident relates back to events in December 2012 and involved the bank’s service provider in India.”

RAKBank’s cards were compromised in December last year, allowing the criminals to make more than 4,500 ATM transactions in about 20 countries around the world.The bank, one of the biggest names in consumer banking in the UAE, lost about $5m to the fraud.The Omani lender BankMuscat was hit in February and alerted the public within days that it had lost $39m. But RAKBank has not previously released details of the loss.

“In the place of guns and masks, this cybercrime organisation used laptops and the internet,” said US attorney Loretta Lynch.

“Moving as swiftly as data over the internet, the organisation worked its way from the computer systems of international corporations to the streets of New York city, with the defendants fanning out across Manhattan to steal millions of dollars from hundreds of ATMs in a matter of hours.”

The gang laundered the proceeds through banks in Miami and with purchases of Rolex watches, a Mercedes SUV and a Porsche Panamera.

Seven of the eight people named in the complaint have been arrested. The eighth man charged, Alberto Yusi Lajud-Pena, the alleged ringleader of the cell who went by the aliases “Prime” and “Albertico”, was reportedly murdered in the Dominican Republic last month.

US authorities were able to make the arrests with the help of MasterCard, the two banks and authorities in 16 countries.

“If convicted, the defendants face a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment on each of the money laundering charges and 7.5 years on the conspiracy to commit access device fraud charge, restitution, and up to $250,000 in fines,” the US attorney’s office said.

ghunter@thenational.ae

* With Reuters

How to avoid crypto fraud
  • Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
  • Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
  • Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
  • Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
  • Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
  • Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
  • Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
WHAT%20IS%20'JUICE%20JACKING'%3F
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Name: Ayisha Abdulrahman Gareb

Age: 57

From: Kalba

Occupation: Mukrema, though she washes bodies without charge

Favourite things to do: Visiting patients at the hospital and give them the support they need.
Role model: Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, Chairwoman of the General Women's Union, Supreme Chairwoman of the Family Development Foundation and President of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood.

 

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Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
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Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed 

Rating: 1/5

Company%20profile
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
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Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
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What: 11th edition of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship

When: December 27-29, 2018

Confirmed: men: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Kevin Anderson, Dominic Thiem, Hyeon Chung, Karen Khachanov; women: Venus Williams

Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ae, Virgin megastores or call 800 86 823

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  • National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
  • In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
  • Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
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