74 arrested for hacking financial service app
Seventy-four suspects have been arrested for allegedly fraudulently withdrawing 10.5 million yuan (US$1.6 million) by taking advantage of a loophole in a financial services app, Shanghai police said on Friday.
The company which runs the app reported the mass hacking to Xuhui police at the end of February after realizing the app was hacked and the large sum of money was missing.
Police declined to reveal the name of the app.
The hackers allegedly deposited 0.01 yuan into the app but managed to rig the amount of the deposit and withdraw a significantly larger amount of money.
A total of 422 accounts were found to be involved in hacking the app, with 269 successfully withdrawing money fraudulently, police said.
Further investigation showed that a suspect found the loophole first and then spread the word on the internet.
The identity of the suspect, a man surnamed Zhao, was soon determined, and within five days, Zhao and two other major suspects in this case were caught in Anhui Province.
Zhao being questioned by Xuhui police.
The rest of the suspects were discovered in 10 provinces, as well as Shanghai, within the following six months, police said.
So far 2.25 million yuan hacked has been frozen in the suspects’ bank accounts and 1.64 million yuan has been recovered.
