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Chinese cyber criminals detained in Azerbaijan

15 January 2014 10:54 (UTC +04:00)

Interior Ministry’s press service told APA that Narimanov district police detained 4 accused of committing cyber crimes against the banking sector of Azerbaijan. Citizens of People’s Republic of China - Zhang Jianquan, 27, Zhong Hailing, 29, Xu Zhengping, 33, and Zeng Huihui, 32, hacked ATMs of International Bank of Azerbaijan using special instruments, chips, memory cards.

The investigation has found out that the gang members, who came to Azerbaijan in summer, 2013, attempted to hack ATMs and steal a lot of money. They installed hidden cameras at ATMs of the International Bank of Azerbaijan in Tabriz street, Narimanov district. They learnt PIN codes of cards. Special skimmer device was installed at the card reader. With this they attempted to steal necessary information stored on the magnetic strips of the bank cards. After they were detained, it was revealed that they registered bank cards of 3634 clients. The cards of only 21 of them were read fully, their PIN codes were learnt. The detainees said they would steal the money after returning to China. They were going to steal AZN 24 539 from the accounts of the abovementioned 21 persons. As a result of the investigations carried out by Narimanov district police, the plan of the gang members was thwarted.

Ariva hotel, where the detainees stayed, was searched. Video devices, memory cards, chips, skimmers, other instruments were seized. Later, it was revealed that having seized the data of bank cards of a number of citizens and damaged ATMs, the gang members caused AZN 14 196 damage to the International Bank of Azerbaijan. Criminal case has been launched on the fact on several articles of Azerbaijan’s Criminal Code. Investigation is underway.