March 11, 2016
Unknown hackers had accessed an account at a US bank belonging to the country of Bangladesh, which its central bank was using for international payments, said to contain over $20 billion.
The hackers initiated a series of transactions, which were at some point detected and stopped, but not before the intruders managed to move a large amount of money to the Philippines.
Silly mistake foils major bank heist
Ever since the heist came to light, more details have been uncovered by Reuters journalists, which have now found out that the attack actually took place on the night between February 4 and 5, 2016.
The hackers logged into Bangladesh’s account at the US Federal Reserve Bank of New York and initiated three dozen bank transfers to different banks across the world.
The first four transactions went through to bank accounts belonging to several casinos in the Philippines and totaled $81 million.