Police in #Guangdong Province have revealed fresh details about a gang of 11 men who were arrested in May last year for stealing the #bankcard data of over 1.6 million people.
The #gang was led by an 18-year-old, surnamed Ye, who had apparently learned programming on his own and then drifted to a life of #hacking and#crime.
The gang reportedly sold the data they stole to a number of online agencies. The data were eventually leaked to those, who, using loopholes in online payment systems, siphoned off an undisclosed amount.
According to the police, the potential amount of money on the cards that could have been stolen is estimated at nearly 1.5 billion yuan ($214 million).
The first breakthrough for the police came in May 2014 when they arrested Ye along with his 10 gang members. At the time, they also found 11 computers and 13 POS machines, among other items.
When searching through Ye’s computer, they found the personal data of over 1.6 million people’s bank cards.
While cracking the case, police have warned people to be cautious while making transactions online.
“Use Ukey and other devices that banks provide to ensure security. They are the strongest in protection. So far, we haven’t found any case of Ukeys being hacked,” Mr. Liao, an official with Guangdong police told CCTV.
The case has sparked a wide ranging debate on Chinese microblogging platform Sina Weibo, with many condemning the poor security system of banks.
“Banks should work on dealing with the loopholes! What are they doing every day?” wrote a user named @Jianghaishan.
Others, meanwhile, are seemingly in awe of the 18-year-old Ye for running such a sophisticated operation: “A genius is a genius if he/she is on the right path, but a scourge if he/she takes the wrong way…” opined a user named @HyunQingl.
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