45 Million Dollar ATM Theft; Hackers Stole From ATM's WorldWide In Cyber Heist[VIDEO]

A $45 million theft took only a few hours, which eight defendants allegedly used fabricated cards to take the money out of ATMs.

"This scheme was organized for months and planned down to the minute, reminiscent of the casino heist in 'Ocean's Eleven,'" Loretta Lynch, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York told ABC News about the $45 million tower heist.

An indictment unvealed Friday showed that the heist started overseas. Unknown hackers stole data from banks that was then encoded onto plastic cards sent to crews in two dozen countries, according to the Justice Department. From there, they went from ATM to ATM, allegedly taking $45 millions worth of cash. 

Law enforcement agencies in Japan, Canada, Germany, Romania and 12 other countries were involved in the investigation.

Lynch told ABC News that she spotted one of the suspects from a surveillance camera at a New York ATM:

"Surveillance photos show his backpack getting heavier and heavier as his efforts go on," she said.

This withdrawal was $3 million of the total $45 million stolen. In 25 minutes, the defendants and their co-conspirators conducted approximately 750 fraudulent transactions totaling nearly $400,000 at more than 140 different cash machines, according to the Department of Justice.

According to court records, the hackers targeted a credit card processor that handled prepaid debit card transactions for Rakbank in the United Arab Emirates.

In a separate attack, the hackers, who are unknown to prosecutors, targeted a processor that serviced MasterCard prepaid debit cards issued by the Bank of Muscat in Oman, according to ABC News.

"Instead of guns and masks, this cybercrime organization used laptops and malware," Lynch said.

Seven of the eight members have reportedly been arrested. The eighth, Alberto Yusi Lajud-Pena, said to be the ringleader, was found murdered last month in the Dominican Republic.The other men have been charged variously with conspiracy to commit access device fraud, money laundering conspiracy and money laundering.

If convicted, the defendants face a maximum sentence of 10 years' imprisonment on each of the money laundering charges and 7 1/2 years on the conspiracy to commit access device fraud charge, as well as restitution and as much as $250,000 in fines, according to authorities.