The Sri Lankan government announced on Tuesday that the man had been missing for several weeks after U.S. authorities reported that a payment of about $625,000 (approximately 199.7 million Sri Lankan rupees) to the United States Postal Service had not arrived, local media reported.
Authorities discovered the incident after the hacker allegedly tried to divert another payment meant for India.
Australian authorities are reportedly aware of irregularities in payments to the country, suggesting the theft in Sri Lanka may be more widespread than initially thought.
The revelation came days after Sri Lankan authorities announced they were investigating the theft of $2.5 million by hackers targeting the country's finance ministry.
Finance Secretary Harshana Suryapperuma said at a press conference last week that hackers had diverted payments from the country's postal authorities “to other bank accounts rather than to their intended recipients.”
These incidents appear to be business email compromise attacks, where hackers break into email inboxes and other accounting systems and manipulate bank accounts and routing numbers during the bill payment process.
Business email compromise scams are popular with cybercriminals, and recent FBI data shows that these attacks remain one of the largest sources of cybercriminal profits, as hackers can steal large sums of money in a single breach. The FBI says email compromise attacks caused billions of dollars in losses last year alone.
News of a spate of security failures has put fresh pressure on Sri Lanka's government, which has been in financial trouble for years. The country is still recovering from the economic crisis that led to its 2022 debt default, resulting in months of protests that ultimately led to the ouster of then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
It is unclear at this time whether the two thefts are related. Parliamentarian Narinda Jayatissa said the government was investigating whether the incidents were linked.
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