Federal Prosecutors Think North Korea Stole $81 Million From NY Federal Reserve

In February of 2016, hackers managed to gain access to the Bangladesh Central Bank. They proceeded to issue about three dozen requests to withdraw money from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York amounting to $951 million. By sheer luck, the Federal Reserve managed to stop the transaction after only $101 million had been sent ($20 million was later recovered). To date, the culprits of this heist haven’t been caught.

However, federal prosecutors think they have an idea who was responsible. They’re building a case that points the finger at unknown individuals in North Korea, as well as several Chinese middlemen who they think helped North Korea orchestrate the heist. Though the U.S. seems to think that the North Korean government was involved, there may not be any charges against any specific North Korean officials. If true, this would mark the first time that a nation state has tried to rob a central bank of another country outside of war.

On the other hand, some of the federal officials who are working on the case think that someone else is involved. They suspect that the hackers modified the code that was used by the Sony hackers in 2014, to make it look like North Korea committed the theft.

I don’t think either situation would be too surprising. That’s the problem with North Korea. That country has such a weird and awful reputation, that you can’t put anything past them.