Did the FBI Really Fly to Sri Lanka to Investigate the $2.5 Million Treasury Cyber-Heist?

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When headlines claimed that FBI agents had touched down in Sri Lanka to investigate a $2.5 million cyberheist from the national treasury and a separate theft of $625,000 owed to the US Postal Service, the story spread quickly across social media and mainstream media alike. We contacted the US Embassy directly. Their response significantly changes the picture. Below is our fact-check of these claims.

Social Media Posts:

Series of posts claimed that team of FBI officials were in Sri Lanka to aid the investigations with local officials, related to the series of recent cyber frauds, linked to government institutes.

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News websites similarly reported this as follows.

Fact-Check:

A senior official had apparently told the Daily Mirror that a team from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has arrived in Sri Lanka to assist Sri Lankan authorities in investigating the cyber thefts, both in the theft of $2.5 million from Sri Lankan treasury funds and the theft of $625,000 owed to the US Postal Service (US POST).

US Embassy in Sri Lanka

To confirm this, we contacted the media section of the US Embassy in Sri Lanka. The Embassy confirmed that while it is true the FBI has agreed to provide technical assistance in the cyberattack that stole $2.5 million from the Sri Lankan Treasury, these would be coordinated by the US Embassy. However, US Embassy stated clearly that no special FBI team has arrived in Sri Lanka for this purpose.

The Embassy also noted that a permanent FBI Legal Attaché serves at US Embassies in many countries, including Sri Lanka, to coordinate bilateral cooperation in international criminal investigations. Major media reports on this are visible here and here.

That is, the FBI Legal Attaché at the American Embassy coordinates bilateral cooperation in the areas of international cybercrime, financial fraud, etc. as a permanent officer. FBI International Operations — Legat

The US Embassy in Sri Lanka had further stated that it is very important to provide specific facts when reporting on such matters that are currently under investigation.

The Daily Mirror also later published the US Embassy’s response as Daily Mirror — US Embassy Responds (May 23)

The $2.5 Million Treasury Theft and the US Postal Service Fraud

In response to a recent question raised about the Central Bank’s oversight of the massive digital financial fraud that happened through the External Resources Department (ERD) under the Ministry of Finance, in which a loan instalment owed by the Sri Lankan government to the Australian government was credited to a fraudulent account, the Central Bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe commented as given here.

In addition to the $2.5 million incident, a separate incident of cybercriminals stealing $625,000 that was supposed to be paid to the US Postal Service (US POST) over a two-year period was also recently uncovered.

Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department, SL CERT and other institutions, in collaboration with foreign expert teams, are conducting investigations into both incidents.

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Conclusion:

The US Embassy confirmed that while it is true that the FBI has agreed to provide technical assistance in the cyberattack that stole over $2.5 million from the Sri Lankan Treasury, it is false that a special FBI team has arrived in Sri Lanka for this purpose. The investigation is being conducted through the permanent FBI Legal Attaché stationed at the US Embassy in Colombo.