text: Organised crime believed to be behind coordinated raids across stores in Japan 
   
   Members of an international crime syndicate are suspected of stealing more than 1.4bn yen (US$12.7m) from cash machines in Japan in the space of less than three hours, in an audacious heist that involved thousands of coordinated withdrawals. 
   
   
   
   Police believe that as many as 100 people, none of whom have been apprehended, worked together using forged credit cards containing account details illegally obtained from a bank in South Africa. 
   
   Who invented the cash machine? I did – and all I earned was £10 Read more 
   
   The culprits used the fake cards at 1,400 convenience store automated teller machines on the morning of 15 May, according to police. Each made withdrawals of 100,000 yen at a time – the maximum allowed by the cash machines – and there was a total of 14,000 withdrawals. 
   
   
   
   The thieves targeted cash machines in the capital Tokyo and 16 other prefectures, according to Kyodo News. 
   
   Japanese police have asked the authorities in South Africa, via Interpol, to establish how the credit card information was obtained. 
   
   Transaction data retrieved from the cash machines suggests that the criminals used information for 1,600 credit cards issued by the South African bank, which has not been named. 
   
   The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that the withdrawals began just after 5am last Sunday, with the last one made just before 8am the same day. 
   
   Reports suggest that members of the gang may no longer be in Japan. By using cards that were issued in a different country from the one in which the fraud took place - and on a day of the week when banks were closed - they were probably able to buy themselves enough time to leave the country before their crime was discovered. 
   
   Japan is the latest victim of a string of ATM heists using credit cards forged using leaked data. In one case, thieves withdrew 4.5bn yen in 26 countries, including Japan, in 2012 and 2013, the Yomiuri said. 
   
   ||||| In a heist reminiscent of the blockbuster film 'Ocean's Eleven,' some 100 thieves managed to steal $12.7 million from ATMs in Japan in just three hours. The incredible feat is believed to be the work of an international crime syndicate. 
   
   The thieves worked together to withdraw the huge sum of money in coordinated withdrawals at 1,400 convenience store ATMs throughout Tokyo and 16 other prefectures, police said, as cited by Kyodo News. 
   
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   Using forged credit cards containing account details illegally obtained from Standard Bank in South Africa, around 100 different people are believed to have made a single withdrawal of 100,000 yen (US$913) – the maximum allowed by cash machines – in each of the 14,000 transactions attempted. 
   
   The withdraws took just three hours to complete, with the first one made just after 5am on May 15, and the last made just before 8am, The Yomiuri Shimbun reported. All of the ATMs were located at 7-Eleven stores. 
   
   No one has been arrested in connection with the heist, and local media reports suggest that the thieves – believed to be part of an international crime syndicate – may no longer be in Japan. 
   
   Police are currently examining CCTV footage to identify the suspects, and have asked South African authorities to investigate how the credit card information was obtained. 
   
   Standard Bank, which has estimated its losses at $19.25 million, has described the heist as a “sophisticated, co-ordinated fraud incident" involving a "small number" of fake cards. 
   
   It stressed, however, that its customers had not suffered any losses, and that it has “taken swift action to contain the matter.” 
   
   It's not the first time that a sophisticated ATM heist has hit Japan. In a spree spanning 2012 and 2013, thieves using forged credit cards managed to withdraw $41 billion in 26 countries, including Japan, according to The Yomiuri Shimbun.
target: – A purported organized-crime incident in Japan put the emphasis on "organized" in a crime that RT.com is labeling "Ocean's 100." Cops believe that more than 100 thieves took part in a spree in Tokyo and 16 other prefectures on May 15, cleaning out 7-Eleven ATMS of nearly $13 million in less than three hours, the Guardian reports. Just after 5am that day, the mass withdrawals started, with the meticulous money-nabbers making a total of 14,000 or so transactions, each one reaping about $915 (the maximum allowed per ATM), before wrapping things up right before 8am. Investigators think the suspects, believed to be part of an international gang, were able to access customer accounts by using fake credit cards with account details stolen from a South Africa bank. No suspects have been caught, and officials fear they may have all fled the country. (A $1 billion bank heist was thwarted by a typo.)