14 DAY TRIAL // The trial of a 2004 failed heist at the European headquarters of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation is currently taking place at Snaresbrook Crown Court in London. The court was informed that the plan to steal £229 million failed because the criminals were not familiar with the SWIFT system used for transferring money.
One former security supervisor at the London office of the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation is accused of having conspired with two Belgian computer hackers to fraudulently transfer money from the accounts of the bank's customers. According to the statements, Kevin O'Donoghue, from Birmingham, smuggled Jan Van Osselaer and Gilles Poelvoorde, both from Belgium, inside the bank, under the pretext of playing a game of poker.
During their visit to the bank's office, the three men installed keyloggers onto the bank computers, with the purpose of stealing account credentials. The compromised accounts included those of Toshiba International, Mitsui OSK Linesm, Nomura Asset Management, and Sumitomo Chemical. One Saturday morning, the individuals returned to the bank and attempted to transfer money to offshore accounts set up by other accomplices, The Times reports.
Two British businessmen, namely Hugh Rodley, 60, and David Nash, 47, as well as a Swedish woman by the name of Inger Malmros are accused of being responsible for creating the offshore accounts in Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, and other countries. The three deny the charges of conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to transfer criminal property.
The initial transfer attempt failed because the crooks did not fill in a field in the transfer form. It was followed by other 23 unsuccessful trials during the course of two days, the prosecution claimed. Bank employees also had an important role in preventing the heist, as many of them noticed that their computers had been tampered with, and reported the suspicious activity to their superiors, who called the police.
The police is said to have monitored the hackers before arresting them, in order to uncover more details about the scheme. Kevin O’Donoghue, 34, Jan Van Osselaer, 32, and Gilles Poelvoorde, 34, have all admitted their involvement in the scam. The jury trial will continue for an estimated six weeks.
The bank notified the public immediately after the incident in 2004, prompting Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, as well as other security professionals to praise its transparency at the time. In light of this trial, Mr. Cluley noted that “It’s always been slightly unclear to me whether the keyloggers used in this alleged heist were in the form of malicious software or hardware.” He's confident that the precise method used “surely will come out in the case to be heard at Snaresbrook Crown Court in East London in the coming weeks.”