【英语财经】孟加拉央行被黑客盗转1.01亿美元 Central banks feud over $101m cyber heist

A $101m cyber heist has left central bank officials from Bangladesh to New York arguing over what may be one of the largest and most audacious bank raids in history.

Hackers allegedly breached the Bangladesh central bank’s security system and then masqueraded as Bangladeshi officials to submit a series of requests for the New York Federal Reserve to transfer large tranches of money from its account there.

Bangladesh Bank told the Financial Times last night that a total of $101m was wrongly transmitted, of which $20m went to a Sri Lankan bank. It was this last payment that raised suspicions over the authenticity of the transfers.

“The Sri Lankan bank did not disburse it immediately and we could recover the full amount. The remaining $81m was transmitted to a few accounts of a Philippine bank,” the central bank said. Anti-money laundering authorities in the Philippines were co-operating with Bangladesh and had already frozen the relevant bank accounts, it added.

An experienced cyber expert, who had worked at the World Bank and is currently employed as an “IT governance specialist” on a Bangladesh Bank project, was investigating the case with his forensic team, the central bank said. “We have confidence the stolen funds will be recovered in full.”

Central banks are ripe targets for criminal groups given the potential windfall they can make if just one of their attempts succeeds.

While the money may ultimately be recovered there is a growing dispute over who is to blame for allowing the transfers.

Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, Bangladesh’s finance minister, told reporters in Dhaka this week that his government was considering filing a case against the New York Fed and that he was also surprised by the failure of his own country’s central bank to report the crime.

He said that the Fed officials “cannot avoid their responsibility in any way”, and added that he first learned of the scam from press reports. “Bangladesh Bank authorities did not inform [us] of the matter,” he said.

A spokesperson for the NY Fed said, however, that its systems were not hacked and the transfers were made after it followed protocol.

一起涉资1.01亿美元的网络盗窃案让孟加拉和纽约的央行官员们争执不休。这可能是史上最大胆、金额最大的银行盗窃案之一。（上图为纽约联邦储备银行和孟加拉央行）

据悉，黑客入侵了孟加拉央行的安全系统，然后伪装成孟加拉官员，向纽约联邦储备银行(New York Federal Reserve)发送一连串指令，要求转移孟加拉央行账上的大笔存款。

孟加拉央行昨晚对英国《金融时报》表示，共有1.01亿美元被误转，其中有2000万美元被转到了一家斯里兰卡银行。正是这最后一笔款项令人对转账的真实性产生了怀疑。

孟加拉央行表示：“该斯里兰卡银行没有立即支付，所以我们得以全额收回。其余8100万美元被转给了一家菲律宾银行的几个账户。”孟加拉央行还表示，菲律宾反洗钱部门正与孟加拉方面合作，并已经冻结相关银行账户。

一位经验丰富的网络专家正与其鉴定团队对此案进行调查。这名专家曾供职于世界银行(World Bank)，现受聘为孟加拉央行某个项目的“IT治理专家”。孟加拉央行表示：“我们有信心失窃款项能被全部追回。”

各国央行已成为犯罪集团的下手目标，因为只要有一次得手，他们可能就会大发横财。

虽然被盗款项有可能全部追回，但关于谁应为这次转账负责的争论正在不断升级。

孟加拉财长阿布?马尔?阿布杜尔?穆希特(Abul Maal Abdul Muhith)本周在达卡向记者表示，孟加拉政府正考虑起诉纽约联储，孟加拉央行没有报告这起罪案也让他感到惊讶。

他说纽约联储官员“无论如何都不能逃避他们的责任”。他还表示自己是从新闻报道才得知这起骗局的。他说：“孟加拉央行部门没有告知我们这起事件。”

但纽约联储的发言人表示，其系统并未遭到黑客入侵，转账是因为其符合协议才进行的。

译者/何黎