ATM Jackpotting International Gangs.
“ATMs hold cash, and that makes them attractive for criminals for jackpotting.” The opening statement of this episode sums up what the whole mini-series is about. While criminals around the world try to get to the money in cash-machines with hammers, explosives, excavators or other heavy gear, the Carbanak gang found a more elegant and stealth way. They would hack into bank networks and monitor the activities there until they understood how to trigger the machines remotely to spill out all the money.
Episode 1 explains how security researchers were alerted to it, how they brought international police forces into the investigation and why the method of attacking ATMs is called Jackpotting after a researcher named Barnaby Jack.
The Carbanak Group attacks a bank in Taiwan and sends 22 money mules into the country. What they didn’t anticipate is that within a few hours the Taiwanese police publish surveillance pictures of all the money mules. The hunt begins.
19 money mules flee Taiwan, the rest are left in Taipei with several million dollars. The police get closer and closer.
The Taiwanese police find clues to the whereabouts of the head of the Carbanak group and coordinates with Europol. Can the group be stopped?