Major French Bank Shocked by $100 Million Hack, Fears of Crypto Money Laundering - Thairath English

French prosecutors and cybercrime units are rushing to investigate after the leading financial institution Credit Mutuel Arkea was hacked, with thieves stealing cash totaling 100 million euros, approximately 3.65 billion baht.

Reports state that the cyberattack forced Credit Mutuel Arkea to temporarily suspend certain transactions to prevent further damage, causing delays in some customers' money transfers. However, the bank confirmed that personal customer assets and accounts were not affected by the incident.

A spokesperson for Credit Mutuel Arkea revealed that the perpetrators accessed the system and used the bank's accounts to conduct fraudulent transactions to siphon off money. The stolen funds were initially in regular currency, not cryptocurrency, but it is highly likely that the perpetrators converted the amount into crypto later to make tracking difficult.

Additionally, the bank denied rumors that its affiliated online bank, Fortuneo, was the weak link that allowed hackers to penetrate the system, affirming that neither Fortuneo nor its customer accounts were involved in this attack.

Rafay Baloch, CEO of cybersecurity firm RedSecLabs, stated that the incident involving Credit Mutuel Arkea is an unprecedented and rare case in Europe at this scale, as cyber threats usually involve data leaks or ransomware, whereas this attack directly stole funds from a major financial institution's system.

This event follows other recent major cyberattacks, such as the theft of cryptocurrency worth up to $6.3 billion from Binance exchange, as well as a wave of attacks targeting internet-connected smart refrigerators in the European region.

Currently, Credit Mutuel Arkea has reported the matter to the European Central Bank (ECB) and the French financial regulatory authority (ACPR). It remains unclear how much of the stolen money can be recovered.