Facing eight years in prison, a Turkish man who goes by the handle of “Segate,” “Predator” and “Oreon,” Ercan Findikoglu, aged 35, pleaded guilty to being the ringleader of a group of hackers that stole $55 million.

His guilty plea was to charges of computer intrusion conspiracy, access device fraud conspiracy, and effecting transactions with unauthorized access devices.

The hacking was between 2011 and 2013 and consisted of three campaigns. The cybercrooks hacked into the systems of payment card processing companies, stole card data, including PINs, and eliminated withdrawal limits for those cards. The data was sent to other members of the group who produced fake cards. The cards were then sent to members of the group who made thousands of withdraws.

That first campaign hit 18 countries where 15,000 withdraws made off with $10 million. The second campaign happened in December 2012 when the group made 5,000 withdraws netting the crooks $5 million from 20 counties.

The third and largest campaign took place in February 2013 when the group made off with $40 million. That campaign took place in 24 countries when they hit 36,000 ATM's.

After Findikoglu completes his prison term in the U.S., he will be sent back to Turkey where he will face 20 years in prison for charges of payment card fraud.

When he was arrested in Germany, authorities announced that they had already convicted dozens of other members of the cybercrime gang.

Source: Security Week