(From Reuters)

Chinese hackers were possibly behind the theft of $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank, a senator in the Philippines said on Tuesday, while a Manila bank manager involved in the case said she was a pawn of senior bankers and unnamed tycoons.

Maia Santos Deguito
Maia Santos Deguito

Unidentified hackers stole the money from the Bangladesh Bank’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in early February and funneled it through a Manila branch of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) to casinos and gambling agents in the Philippines.

“It would appear they are not Filipino hackers (but) possibly Chinese hackers,” said Ralph Recto during a Senate inquiry in the capital Manila. “They saw the vulnerability in the (Philippines) banking system or one bank.”

Recto did not give any details on why he thought the hackers were Chinese. But the Senate was told in a previous session that the money was brought into the Philippines by two Chinese high-rollers, one from Macau and one from Beijing. Read More

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