Fraudster sentenced in RBS WorldPay hack

A U.S. district court judge sentenced a "money mule" to two years and six months in federal prison for her role in the 2008 fraud scheme against Atlanta-based processor WorldPay US Inc. that netted fraudsters $9 million. Sonya Martin, a 45-year-old resident of Nigeria and Chicago, was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The district court said Martin was part of a Chicago "cashing crew" that took account information stolen from the processor's systems to fraudulently withdraw approximately $80,000 from various Chicago ATMs on one morning in November 2008.

In February 2009, WorldPay US, then called RBS WorldPay Inc., said 1.5 million open-loop gift and payroll card numbers were compromised in the breach, but only 100 of the card numbers – all from payroll card accounts – were allegedly used in the scam.

The fraud ring cloned the card numbers onto fake cards and hit over 100 ATMs in a coordinated attack that spanned cities in the United States, Canada, Russia and Asia. At the time, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said money mules withdrew funds from ATMs in the Atlanta area; additional suspects were captured on video surveillance cameras at ATMs in Chicago.

The district court said Martin was one of the lead cashers and supervised a cashing crew in Chicago. She was apprehended in March 2011 outside John F. Kennedy International Airport on her way to London. In addition to serving prison time, followed by five years of supervised release, Martin must pay $89,120.25 in restitution.

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