Eight men have been arrested in Israel and Thailand as they tried to extort money from the bank they previously worked for by threatening to sell the financial information of millions of customers.
The former employees worked for Leumi Card, one of the leading credit card in Israel. The leader of the group has been identified as Eliran Rosnis, who had been living in Thailand for most of the year.
About two weeks ago, he contacted Leumi Card management and said that before leaving the company, he copied the credit card details of millions of customers, which he would sell on the black market if millions of shekels were not paid in return.
According to the company, this information would not pose a risk of fraud to its customers because it could not be used for card cloning or online transactions.
Just like in the case of the breach at HSBC Bank of Turkey, the data contained on the card's magnetic stripe and the card's security code (CVV or CVC) were not obtained by the thief. The stolen information included names, card numbers and ID numbers, which were not sufficient for malicious use.
“It is important for me to emphasize that there is no possibility of causing harm of any kind to our customers,” Leumi Card CEO Hagai Heller told the Jerusalem Post.
The relevant publication on the Internet informs that the suspect, who was transferred to Israel on Sunday morning, used Tor (The Onion Router) to ensure the anonymity of his location when he contacted Leumi Card.
