A Chicago woman was sentenced Tuesday to 2 1/2 years in federal prison for bilking an Atlanta payroll company of more than $9 million.
Sonya Martin, 45, was the manager of a cell in what federal prosecutors said was one of the most sophisticated and organized computer hacking and ATM cashout schemes ever.
"While this was a complex, internationally coordinated crime with many different players and components, it would not have gotten very far without the cashing crews" like the one Martin worked with, said Brian Lamkin, special agent in charge of the Atlanta FBI field office.
According to U.S. District Court officials, a group of hackers in November 2008 got access to the computer network of Atlanta-based WorldPay U.S. Inc., a payment processor.
The hackers got past security measures set up to protect debit card users' customer data for companies that used debit cards to pay their employees.
Then the hackers would fraudulently raise the balances and withdrawal limits on each of the compromised accounts and give the debit card account numbers and associated PIN numbers so that "cashers" could cash out the accounts.
Martin worked with one of those lead cashers in Chicago, prosecutors said. In all, in less than 12 hours, the network withdrew more than $9 million from roughly 2,100 ATMs in 280 cities around the world.
Martin, whose primary residence is in Nigeria, was arrested in March 2011 outside Kennedy International Airport in New York on her way to London, prosecutors said.
In addition to prison time, Martin must spend five years on supervised release and pay $89,120.25 in restitution, court officials said.
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