DHAKA, Bangladesh–Hackers have reportedly stolen $100 million from this country’s central bank. According to investigators, the hackers were apparently able to do so after obtaining payment-transfer codes from Bangladesh Bank and moving the money overseas.
The bank reportedly was able to block a further transfer of $870 million initiated by attackers.
Bangladesh Bank serves as the central bank and and as a regulatory body for the country's monetary and financial system, and the missing funds were reportedly held in an account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Bangladesh’s Finance Minister, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, said his country holds the New York Fed liable for any unrecovered losses. "What we have gathered is that the Federal Reserve had sent a message to Bangladesh Bank, saying, 'We have got an instruction of this nature from you, please confirm' [and] Bangladesh Bank replied that it was false,” the finance minister said in a statement. “But the transaction had taken place before Bangladesh Bank's response reached them. So, the Federal Reserve in no way can deny its responsibility."
The New York Fed issued its own statement denying the allegations and saying its systems were not compromised.
Investigators said the stolen money appears to have been moved using SWIFT, a Belgium-based cooperative banking messaging platform that banks use to move money internationally.