Russian hacker Viktor Pleshchuk, who broke into the security system of the Royal Bank of Scotland's RBS WorldPay service, has paid 10 million rubles ($330,000) in compensation to the lender, local news portal Fontanka.ru quoted an official of a local auction house, which sold Pleshchuk's property, as saying on Monday.
Pleshchuk's two flats in St. Petersburg and two cars were initally valued at 8 million rubles but sold for 30 percent more at auction. Konstantin Rayev, deputy head of Russian Auction House, said. The cash raised in the sale was transferred to the Royal Bank of Scotland.
In 2008, a group of hackers, including Pleshchuk, stole information about the bank's customer accounts and withdrew more than $10 million from ATMs in some 280 cities all over the world with the help of fake cards.
Pleshchuk pled guilty, and decided to sell his property to cover damage caused to the bank and avoid six years in jail. The Russian Criminal Code was amended recently to allow economic criminals to get a suspended sentence if they compensate their victims for damage caused.
