But, we won't drag this out because these
four were all sent not just to the same country, not just to the same bank, but to the same
branch. The Jupiter Street branch of the RCBC Bank, just outside Manila, in the Philippines.
Four accounts had laid dormant for nine months with just $500 inside, untouched. Until a sudden
cash infusion of $81 million. These sudden bursts should've triggered an alert from RCBC but for
whatever reason, it slid under the radar. And, indeed, the accounts were later found to be under
fictitious identities. From there, the money was quickly withdrawn and laundered through casinos.
Where the electronic money transfers were converted to hard untraceable cash. The Bangladesh Bank
did try to stop the transfers, but timing was just not on their side.
The stop order was not received by RCBC Bank on the expected Monday, because Monday was Chinese New Year.
A non-working holiday in the Philippines. By now you're probably noticing a trend here. Every step of the
way there were delays that benefited the hackers. And, this was by design. A remarkably well timed attack.
On Thursday evening they entered the system at the start of the Bangladesh weekend when the bank is closing.
On Friday, the New York Fed tries to clarify the requests with Bangladesh, but no one's there. On Sunday,
Bangladesh staff return from the weekend but can't get through to New York as it's now the weekend in the US.
On Monday, the Fed finally gets the orders to stop the transfers, but not the Philippines because it just so
happened to be Chinese New Year there. And, only on Tuesday, five days after the heist, did RCBC staff find
out about the fraudulent transfers. But, by then it was too late.