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US$ 101m hack-in heist: Interpol hunts for Shalika Foundation chief
View(s):An international alert is underway to arrest a key director of Shalika Foundation, a Sri Lankan NGO at the heart of a global multimillion dollar money laundering scheme. He is said to be on the run and believed to be in Japan.“We have sought Interpol assistance to trace this person who is believed to be in Japan but may have slipped to another country,” a police source said.
The NGO’s Dehiwala office was raided by the police and the computers were seized. One person was questioned but no arrests have been made as yet, police said. Last week the Sunday Times reported how Chinese hackers earlier this month successfully transferred US$81 million to a bank account in the Philippines but the attempt to transfer US$20 million to the Sri Lankan NGO was foiled after Pan Asia Bank, through which the money was being transferred, alerted the authorities as the amount was unusually high and the NGO’s name was misspelt.
The money belonged to the Bangladesh Central Bank. Hackers had broken into that bank’s website, stolen credentials and codes, and sent requests to the US Federal Reserve to transfer millions of dollars belonging to Dhaka to accounts in the Philippines and Sri Lanka. Hackers had planned to take away up to $1 billion of Bangladesh’s funds lying in the US Fed.
Police here said the investigations were being handled by the cybercrimes division of the CID. They said Shalika Foundation claimed to be engaged in helping the poor and constructing houses for them.