Federal Reserve Bank Hacked, Possible $100 Million Theft

Posted by George Freund on March 8, 2016      ~hehe that "covert" war spill~in "out" inta the "OPEN"

Bangladesh’s central bank said on Monday its account with the US Federal Reserve Bank of New York had been hacked and money had been stolen from it, but that it had recovered some of the funds. The theft occurred February 5th, but officials are just now making public the size of the theft.

Bangladesh Bank said it had traced some of the money to the Philippines and was working with anti-money laundering authorities there.

However, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York denied that its payments systems were breached:

“To date, there is no evidence of any attempt to penetrate Federal Reserve systems in connection with the payments in question, and there is no evidence that any Fed systems were compromised,” said New York Fed spokeswoman Andrea Priest in response to queries about the claim.



Bangladesh Bank released a statement to the media on Monday, saying its Financial Intelligence Unit is working with the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) of the Philippines to recover the rest of the funds.

But the central bank did not say how much money has been recovered.

To questions by reporters on the matter, General Manager AFM Asaduzzaman
said, “Whatever has been said in the media statement is the version of Bangladesh Bank for the time being. Nothing more can be said in the interest of a fair investigation.”

According to media reports, AMLC is investigating a money laundering case involving $100 million reportedly stolen by hackers mostly from the accounts of a Bangladeshi bank.

A report by the Philippines’ Daily Inquirer said “funds had been brought into the Philippines’ banking system, sold to a black market foreign exchange broker, transferred to at least three large local casinos, sold back to the money broker and moved out to overseas accounts – all in a matter of days”.

According to reports of other media outlets, Chinese hackers stole money from the Bangladesh Bank account with the Federal Reserve in New York.

Of the funds, $75 million was transferred to a bank in the Philippines and the rest to a Sri Lankan bank, the reporters suggested.

The central bank said the AMLC had filed a case over the laundering of money and taken measures to freeze the bank accounts in question.

It said the World Bank, supported by its ‘forensic investigative team’ which is manned by a cyber expert, is also working with Bangladesh Bank to trace and recover the money.

Two Bangladesh Bank officials have already visited the Philippines and held meetings with officials of the country’s central bank –the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) – for the recovery of the money.

According to the statement, the central bank will move to court once the AMLC completes its investigation and will tap the World Bank’s Stolen Assets Recovery Initiative (StAR), if necessary, to get the money back.

Finance minister was in dark

Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith says he was unaware of the central bank losing money to hackers. He told reporters on Monday,

“Like you, I have come to know of the matter from the media. Bangladesh Bank did not inform me of anything.”

The minister described the incident as ‘unusual’ but declined further comment on it.
He faced questions on the matter when he talked to reporters after holding a meeting with the World Bank’s new Resident Representative Qimiao Fan.

Sources:

http://bdnews24.com/economy/2016/03/07/bangladesh-bank-says-part-of-us-money-it-lost-to-hackers-recovered

http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/part-of-usd-100-mn-hacked-from-bangladesh-bank-recovered-116030701033_1.html

https://www.trunews.com/federal-reserve-bank-hacked-by-chinese/#RXPeUSewLiRg1swC.99