In a curious development, a spelling mistake by a hacker during online transaction has prevented the USD one billion heist from Bangladesh Central Bank (BCB) last month, said officials.

According to reports, the hacker stole the payment credentials of the bank and bombarded the US Fedral Reserve requesting money transfer.

The reports suggest that the hacker has still managed to transfer at least USD 80 million from BCB account.

The Bangladesh Central Bank has billions of parked in US Fed Reserve.

The hackers had sent multiple request to Fed Reserve to move money to private entities in Philipines and Sri Lanka prompting suspicion by US bank.

The request for money transfer of USD 81 million to a Philiphine entity was completed, but the fifth transfer request to Sri Lankan NGO Shalika Foundation, was held up due to a spelling mistake.

The reports said that instead of writing “Foundation”, the hacker misspelt the word as “Fandation” prompting the routing bank, Deutsche Bank, to seek clarification from Bangladesh bank. The reports further suggests that there is no NGO under the name of Shalika Foundation in Sri Lankan.

The money transfer that got stopped totaled between USD 850 to USD 870 million, said an official.