A global cybercime ring stole $45 million from banks around the world in a matter of hours by hacking a database of prepaid debit cards, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

Seven people are in U.S. custody in connection with the case, which prosecutors said involved thousands of thefts from ATMs using bogus magnetic strip cards. Data stolen during two separate intrusions at credit card processors was used to make more than 40,500 withdrawals in 27 countries during two separate incidents in December and February, prosecutors said.
Eight people in New York have been charged with participating in the conspiracy by stealing $2.8 million from ATMs in the New York area in a matter of hours, according to U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch, who announced the charges Thursday. The charges focus on the New York cell of the scheme, which is believed to have been headquartered outside the U.S., but prosecutors are trying to determine whether there were other U.S.-based cells.

"The defendants and their co-conspirators participated in a massive 21st-century bank heist that reached across the Internet and stretched around the globe," Lynch said in a statement. "In the place of guns and masks, this cybercrime organization used laptops and the Internet."