The Royal Bank of Scotland Group's RBS Worldpay has fallen victim to a hack reported to have netted $9 million (6.1 million) in a worldwide automated teller machine (ATM) scam.
RBS Worldpay said it was hacked just before Christmas of last year. US reports, citing the FBI, suggested that before the payment processor found out, millions of dollars were taken from ATMs around the world using cloned cards.
Thousands of businesses around the world use RBS Worldpay, which allows them to take payments over the internet, phone, fax and mail.
RBS Worldpay is used in the UK, but fortunately British customers were not affected. The US business of RBS Worldpay operates on a platform independent of other Royal Bank of Scotland acquiring businesses.
The FBI told Fox 5 in the US that ATMs from 49 cities were hit, which included Atlanta, New York, Montreal, Moscow and Hong Kong. At the time, RBS Worldpay admitted that the information of 1.5 million cardholders and other individuals could have been affected.
This is the latest card payment breach to hit millions of customers. Last month, around 100 million transactions could have been exposed thanks to malware found on Heartland Payment System's computer network.
