$81m seized in Philippines in landmark recovery from 2016 reserve heist

In a major breakthrough in one of the world’s most notorious cyber heists, Bangladeshi authorities have successfully seized $81 million in the Philippines — funds stolen from Bangladesh Bank in 2016 through a sophisticated SWIFT-based cyber fraud. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) confirmed Sunday that, acting on a court order, it has frozen and seized the funds held in accounts at the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) in Manila. The seizure marks the largest recovery to date from the $101 million stolen in the historic breach. In February 2016, cybercriminals infiltrated Bangladesh Bank’s systems and issued 35 fraudulent SWIFT payment instructions to the US Federal Reserve Bank in New York, attempting to siphon off $1 billion from the country’s foreign...