PL Risk Blog

Commercial Crime: Learn from the New York ATM heist

Written by Mike Smith | May 22, 2013 6:57:21 PM

Commercial Crime

Two cyber-attacks in December and February involved ATM withdrawals in over 20 countries across the globe. One member of the cyber-ring took New York City ATMs for $2.4 million in February- he collected the cash in less than 24 hours making it the second-largest cash heist of any kind in the city’s history.

The heist was part of a high tech scheme that utilized stolen prepaid debit-card number to access the cash at ATMs. The eight that were arrested in New York City were part of a wider plot to steal tens of millions of dollars from locations across the globe.

The hackers were able to connect globally across borders, time zones, language barriers and different banking systems to steal millions of dollars from hundreds of ATMs all over the world. The highly sophisticated criminal schemes reveal two things. One, cyber-crime is on the rise and is a huge liability for businesses, regardless of your size, operations, or industry. Two, it is essential for businesses to protect themselves against commercial crime.

With online banking and increased financial transactions transitioning with the widespread use of the internet, you’d be hard pressed to find a business operation that doesn't rely on the web for some part of their financial operations. With the increased functionality and incredible convenience, it also opens up  your business to a new risk of commercial crime. One click of a button and a company’s business assets can immediately become the target of criminal activity.

At PLRisk Advisors we can provide you with the right Commercial Crime Insurance coverage you need for your clients. Our program is available for all industries and types of businesses- our team will help identify threats to their bank accounts and other assets and design a program specific to each of your clients. Contact us today for more information (855) 403-5982