Leumi Card
Leumi Card employees attempted to extort bank over stolen user data
Israel Police arrest suspects in scheme to extort bank over two millions credit card accounts.
Israel Police exposed Tuesday evening a massive extortion ring at a credit card company by eight people, seven of which worked at the firm's call center. One of the suspects had worked at Leumi Card until he was arrested; the others were either terminated or left of their own volition.
According to the allegations, the employees collected data on some two million credit cards. Several weeks ago the company received a threat that the ringleaders would expose or sell the information if Leumi Card did not pay millions of shekels.
Suspects in extortion scheme (Photo: Ido Erez)
In an unusual move, the lawyers were provided documents that were blacked out to prevent the leaks of sensitive information and the session was held behind closed doors. Similar procedures are generally undertaken in sessions with the Shin Bet or those which may impact the security of the state.
The lawyers of one suspect, Yair Moshyev, said his client denied any and all wrongdoing. "He has no connection to the matter except for his social affiliation with the suspects, in a Whatsapp group. The proceedings were classified as if they have the potential to harm national security."
The affair began when an email was sent to the bank's management some two weeks ago by the central suspect – an employee in the credit department who was fired last year and currently resides in Thailand.
He allegedly copied sensitive files during his employment and then demanded ransom for not publishing the data or selling it to a party interested in critically damaging the credit card company.
The affair was initially subject to a gag order but was then permitted for publication when the suspects were brought Saturday night to court in Rishon LeZion. The investigation was conducted partially on the Darknet and during its term several extortion suspects were arrested.
Gilad Morag contributed to this report.
