British man found guilty of plotting to defraud Japanese bank

Thursday 05th March, 06:45 AM JST

LONDON —

A man has been found guilty of plotting to defraud a Japanese bank in London of 229 million pounds ($324 million), Britain’s Press Association reported Wednesday. Hugh Rodley was found guilty by a jury of conspiring to defraud the London office of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Europe Ltd between Jan 1, 2004 and Oct 5, 2004, according to the report.

Detectives say if Rodley had been successful, it would have been the biggest bank theft in Britain’s history. Several high-profile Japanese companies were targeted in the ‘‘audacious attempt,’’ which involved hacking into the bank’s computer system and recording secret passwords.

In a statement, Sharon Lemon, director of the e-crime unit for Britain’s Serious Organised Crime Agency said, ‘‘This was an audacious attempt to pull off the biggest bank theft this country has ever seen.’‘

The Snaresbrook Crown Court in east London heard how Rodley was the mastermind behind the operation, which involved two Belgian hackers and the bank’s then security supervisor. The three men, who admitted their roles in the conspiracy earlier, will be sentenced along with Rodley and another co-conspirator on Wednesday.

The jury was told that the plot involved the two computer hackers being let into the bank’s office on several occasions at night in September 2004 by the company’s then security supervisor. He let them in using security cards belonging to other staff members.

The two computer experts then installed pirated software into some of the computers to record the secret passwords and login details of the bank’s staff members.

Once this information had been gathered, the two hackers returned to the bank on the weekend of Oct 1, 2004 and tried to transfer money belonging to Sumitomo’s clients into accounts set up all over the world.

The men attempted to send 10 massive transfers in sterling and euros. The accounts that were targeted included those of Toshiba International, Sumitomo Chemical, Nomura Asset Management and Mitsui OSK Lines, the Press Association reported.

But the following day, they realized that the money had not been transferred properly, so they returned and tried to make 11 more transactions.

However, the court heard that the hackers failed to successfully transfer the money into the accounts because they did not enter the passwords into the correct fields of the unfamiliar electronic banking forms.

Staff at the bank returned to work from the weekend and became suspicious when they realized that the computers were not working properly and some of the cables had been taken out.

Police also discovered that the security supervisor had tried to erase all evidence of the gang’s presence on the bank’s security cameras but police found footage of him letting the two hackers into the building.

The court heard that Rodley created several front companies and was connected to several bank accounts across the world set up to receive the stolen money.

Detectives believe that other people were also involved in the conspiracy but have yet to be caught.

SOCA’s Lemon said in the statement, ‘‘Thanks to the banks’ security systems and procedures it was detected, and SOCA used its technical expertise and international reach to investigate.’‘

‘‘By working closely with the private sector and our law enforcement colleagues, both at home and overseas, we have brought a well-organized international crime network to U.K. justice. The message is clear—the U.K. is not a soft target for organized crime.’‘

In a statement, Sumitomo said, ‘‘The bank is very pleased with the outcome of the court case.’‘

‘‘We acted in the best interests of our customers, employees and the public in working closely with SOCA to help complete the investigation into the attempted theft of 229 million pounds from our bank in October 2004.’‘

The statement added that ‘‘no funds were transferred’’ and ‘‘following the fraud attempt, we conducted a full review of our internal procedures and have subsequently continued to enhance them further.’’

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10 Comments

bobbafett at 10:37 AM JST - 5th March

I say this about geeks. they are smart but not street smart. to pull off a bank robbery you gotta have street smarts. returning to the scene of the crime 3 times is not using street smarts. Also they should have researched the banking forms. Even bought in some expertise on the matter. Alas they thought they were to clever and out smarted themselves.
shouganaika at 11:25 AM JST - 5th March

The message is clear—the U.K. is not a soft target for organized crime.

hahaha, should try to rob a Japanese bank in Japan next time where organized crime is a quaint old custom
Altria at 11:34 AM JST - 5th March

Haha, British people trying to rob a bank!

"Er, excuse me, could you give me all your money please...if its not too much trouble that is...er, I could come back later"
bobbafett at 12:48 PM JST - 5th March

Altria,

Do you know any British people? There are some pretty hard men in Britain who are well capable of pointing a gun, using expletives and threats to get cash.
JasUK at 01:58 PM JST - 5th March

Don't be fooled by the gentlemenly looks, we Brits can pull off some heists, the great train robbery £2.6M (1963), brinks Matt £26M in gold,there so many to mention. We don't all look like Mr Bean you know.
Harry_Gatto at 02:33 PM JST - 5th March

bobbafett & JasUK:- Absolutey right but this crowd were a real bunch of amateurs. Rodley must have got them cheap!
TrappedNTokyo at 02:41 PM JST - 5th March

He had to write a 2 page apology letter and bow deeply for the cameras.
Kokubuspider at 06:42 PM JST - 5th March

If you fail to plan you plan to fail.

This was poor work, entering passwords in the wrong places, etc etc. If you are going to do something that audacious, better be ready 100%. I bet they were all planning their futures in the carribean, not in prison.
Brunobear at 06:54 PM JST - 5th March

Some things are just simply timeless: "Honesty is the best policy" They will have plenty of time to contemplate this. The real problem was timing - they should have learnt it before they committed the crime. Cheers!
BBLeo at 07:23 PM JST - 5th March

This guy must be mixed himself with Nigerians, and they teach him how to do the job. But if he didn't do their way he got right into the hot oven. England is loaded with this people and the birth of scammers. I wonder if anyone got also any emails with millions of dollars offers for transfer. Jurors found him guilty, not for crime but because for his failure. 'I wonder why he didn't have a go on 'British bank?' 'PERHAPS BRITISH SECURITY IS MORE ADVANCED.'