Taiwan investigation team in town to probe $ 60 m bank cyber theft

A team of Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) investigators are in Colombo to probe the cyber heist where hackers illegally transferred about $ 60 million from a leading bank in Taiwan to two bank accounts in Sri Lanka.

Two CIB investigators and an official from Far Eastern International arrived in Sri Lanka on Wednesday night to probe the theft, police media spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said.

The Taiwanese officials were scheduled to meet with officers of the Sri Lanka Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and commence the investigation.

Sri Lanka police have arrested two suspects in connection with the theft and the Colombo Fort Magistrate on Wednesday remanded the suspects until 25 October.

The suspects are accused of hacking into the computer network of the Far Eastern International Bank of Taiwan using malware and transferring the money into several accounts they have set up in Sri Lanka.

Police arrested one of the suspects Janaka Chaminda Nammuni when he attempted to withdraw the money from the account. The suspect had reportedly withdrawn Rs. 30 million (approximately $ 196,000) and the bank had alerted the police when he attempted to withdraw Rs. 80 million ($ 522,000) later.

The other suspect Shalila Munasinghe, who was the chairman of state-owned LP gas supplier Litro Gas, surrendered to the police.

According to the Far Eastern International Bank, its computer systems were attacked by malware that affected several transactions. The money was transferred via the Swift network to accounts in Cambodia, Sri Lanka and the US, and about $ 46 million has been recovered. The bank said it had recovered most of the stolen money and that its losses would amount to no more than $ 500,000.