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Swedish plods cuff remote-access robbery ring

Virtual villains unplugged in foiled bank blag

By Lewis Page • Get more from this author

Posted in Software & Security, 31st January 2008 13:14 GMT

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Swedish crooks almost managed to rob a bank using remote access gear attached to a computer, according to reports. The movie-style* ploy was foiled only at the last minute by an alert employee unplugging the kit, according to local prosecutors and cops.

According to AP the attempted digital blag took place in August last year, but Swedish plods only revealed the details after finally braceletting the (mildly) tech-savvy villains yesterday.

Prosecution brief Thomas Balter Nordenman said that "advanced technical equipment" had been hooked up to a bank computer in the Uppland district north of Stockholm. The remote robbery started off well enough, as the computer began an operation intended to illicitly transfer "millions" into an account controlled by the blaggers. But then the computer's normal user realised that his machine was up to no good, and unplugged the dastardly dongle.

"By pulling out the cable to the device, the employee managed to stop the intended transfer at the last second," said Nordenman.

The gizmo-friendly gangsters - now languishing in a Scandinavian cooler - numbered seven. Police declined to name them or specify details of their methods, but said that several of the perps had form in the areas of fraud and theft. The Nordic lawmen added that the crew had been planning another nefarious network caper as they were cuffed. ®

*As favoured by Arnold Schwarzenegger at the beginning of True Lies, for instance.

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