U.S. charges eight in $45 million cybercrime scheme

NEW YORK, May 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. charged eight individuals with stealing debit card data from two Middle Eastern banks in a scheme that prosecutors said netted them $45 million in a matter of hours.

The New York-based cell hacked into credit card processors to steal Mastercard Inc debit card data, which they used to make approximately 36,000 transactions over a total of 10 hours in 24 countries, the Justice Department said. The cards were issued by National Bank of Ras Al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates and Bank of Muscat in Oman, prosecutors said.