News
Another international money swindling racket detected here
Yet another global money laundering scam, on the heels of the mega US$ 100 million Bangladeshi Central Bank fraud, foiled by an alert Sri Lankan bank, has been nipped in the bud, again by a local bank.
Ironically, the latest transactions took place on March 2nd and March 4, the same days Chinese hackers transferred $20 million to the Sri Lankan NGO Shalika Foundation.
In the latest case, a bogus Sri Lankan company, with the connivance of an international cyber gang of hackers, had tried to steal the money during an online money transfer between two Hong Kong companies in an international fertilizer export deal unconnected to Sri Lanka.
The fraud was committed by hackers during the transfer of US$ 926,200 by Crown Champion International Group Ltd, Tianjin, China to Wealthfert Hong Kong CO, Ltd through Agricultural
Bank of China Hong Kong branch for the supply of Granular Urea fertilizer.
Hacking into the Chinese seller’s computer, an unknown group changed the supplier’s invoice and the account number to that of a company with a similar name registered in Sri Lanka, instead of the Hong Kong company’s account, a local fertilizer company official with links to Crown Champion International Group Ltd told the Sunday Times.
Two instalments of US$ 171,185 on March 2 and US$ 755,015 on March 4 had been transferred. However, a vigilant official at the local bank held back the payment to its local customer as his suspicion was drawn by the fact that Sri Lanka is not an exporter of urea fertilizer.
It was the second known fraud involving hacking this year after the mega hack-in of the Bangladesh Central Bank account earlier this month in which US$ 100 million was transferred to sources in the Philippines and Sri Lanka, with Colombo alerting the authorities.
Confirming the detection of the fraud, the local bank official noted that the money had been transferred not to the account of Wealthfert Hong Kong Co Ltd in Hong Kong but to one of the bank’s clients, a company with a similar name — Wealthfert Hong Kong Co Pvt, Sri Lanka located at No. 23 M.E. Perera Mawatha, Koralawella, Colombo Sri Lanka.
This company was registered with the Registrar of Companies on November 20, 2015 under registration number 110012 to carry out the business of import of computers, garments and cloths distribution and selling, details in the department’s file revealed.
The local bank returned the money to Crown Champion International Group Ltd, as the bank was satisfied with the credentials of the company following representations made by three top company officials who visited Sri Lanka recently, a senior bank official said.
Law and Order Minister Sagala Ratnayake has been informed about this latest incident and a complaint has been lodged with the Cinnamon Gardens Police in Colombo.