MOSCOW, September 18 (RAPSI) - Two men who used new malware for Android devices to steal money from customers of a major Russian bank through its mobile banking system were arrested in Arkhangelsk, the Ministry of the Interior announced today.

The ministry states that Troyan-Banker.AndroidOS.Basser, a new virus distributed online in Russia, was used to compromise personal data stored on tablet PCs and mobile phones operating on Android OS.

“After successful installation on the device, the malware would discreetly send a customer’s bank account data to the hackers’ server and subsequently transfer money from the account to the suspect’s accounts,” the ministry’s statement says.

The police arrested the alleged leader of the attacks and his accomplice in Arkhangelsk. The search revealed they had over 12 mobile phones, over 300 SIM cards and five laptops with direct access to mobile networks managing the infected mobile devices. The losses incurred are to be evaluated.

The offenders were charged with theft punishable by up to ten years in prison.

Android is an operating system for smart phones, tablet PCs, e-books, digital players, watches, game consoles, netbooks, smartbooks, Google glasses and other devices.