Detectives foil world’s biggest attempted bank theft

BRITISH detectives have swooped to foil one of the world’s biggest attempted bank thefts.

The audacious plan was to steal £220 million (€316m) from the London offices of the Japanese bank Sumitomo Mitsui.

A high-tech crime ring planned to hack their way into Sumitomo’s computer systems and transfer a total of €316m electronically to 10 bank accounts around the world.

A man has been arrested by police in Israel after the plot was uncovered by the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU).

Yeron Bolondi, 32, was seized after an attempt to transfer €20m into an account there “by deception in a sophisticated manner.” His relationship with the gang who tried to break into Sumitomo’s network is unknown.

Detectives are still hunting more suspects in connection with the plot. The NHTCU is understood to have officers working in Israel and elsewhere in a bid to crack the gang.

As details of the foiled plot emerged, computer experts warned major banks and financial institutions to be alert to the growing threat posed by cyber criminals.

The theft would have been one of world’s largest bank robberies, if it had been successful.

The amount stolen would have dwarfed the £26m worth of gold bullion taken in the Brinks Mat raid at Heathrow in 1983.

It would even have been worth more than the attempted theft of £200m worth of diamonds from the Millennium Dome in November 2000.

The theft of up to £26.5m from the headquarters of the Northern Bank in Belfast last December is thought to be the biggest cash robbery in either Britain or Ireland.

The NHTCU has been investigating the electronic attack on Sumitomo since October, after the gang gained access to the bank’s computer systems and tried to transfer the money.

The plan was uncovered before any money was stolen.

The hackers managed to infiltrate the system with sophisticated keylogging software that would have enabled them to track every button pressed on computer keyboards.

From that they could learn account numbers, passwords and other sensitive information.

The man arrested in Israel has been charged with money laundering and deception.