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“He asked Brian Jennings, the bank manager, for assistance, and was told he needed to deal with the bank’s back office customer service. They were alerted but could not provide an answer for what was going on. They said they would look into it. Within seven days, the thieves sent out fifteen more wires totalling nearly £2.5 million. The bank was unable to reverse any of those fraudulent wires.”
How crime had moved on from the standard wage heist of the olden days, thought Gardener. “I spoke to David Hunter’s brother, Roger, recently. When we met, I asked if David and Ann Marie had any financial problems that he knew about.”
“He said they didn’t,” added Reilly, “but this tells me there was obviously something amiss. Do these thieves have names?”
Winter reached into a briefcase and pulled out some more paperwork. “They do but when you hear them you’ll probably laugh, like we did.”
Shona Pearson took over. “These are what we’ve uncovered. We have a Jack Heaton, an Edna Hart.”
“She sounds like your average librarian,” said Gardener.
“Conrad Morse.”
Reilly laughed. “Christ, it gets worse.”
“And finally, Alfie Price?” said Winter.
“These names can’t be real,” asked Reilly.
“Now you know why I said that,” added Winter. “Totally bogus, but it’s no less than we expected. What we did manage to uncover is that the scam appeared to have been engineered by an outfit called DPA, and at the moment that is literally all we know about them – apart from the four bogus names.”
“I love Conrad Morse,” said Reilly. “Where the hell did he find that one?”
Winter continued, “The first time anything happened, access was gained through head office in London. The bank’s clientele comprises mainly of footballers but there were other sportsmen and women, as well as musicians, actors and TV personalities – all with lots of money.
“On that occasion, DPA were simply snooping, but they deliberately left a trail informing head office in London that something was going on, but they wouldn’t be able to figure out what. No money had been taken but a pathway led to the branch in Leeds.”
“These guys must be good,” said Gardener, “if they’re confident enough to leave a trail without concern of being found.”
“Oh, they are,” said Shona Pearson.
“Head office contacted Brian Jennings,” said Winter. “Naturally, he knew nothing about it, and he could prove exactly where he was when it had happened. He was attending a lunch in the Queen’s Hotel in the city centre. Despite being annoyed about it, head office realised they could do very little other than beef up security, but it was supposed to be the best, considering the money that they had paid.
“Three days later, DPA broke into the system again, this time at the Leeds branch. On that occasion they really disrupted things by moving around lots of money and contacting customers about possible losses. The bank discovered that £350,000 could not be accounted for. The login had come from head office.
“Brian Jennings called in David Hunter before consulting head office. Despite his obvious embarrassment, Hunter couldn’t offer an explanation. The manager of head office, Bill Patterson, came under suspicion and had been suspended with full pay until the matter was resolved. Hunter had been told to be on his guard for anything else suspicious and, at the same time, maintain the utmost secrecy. He couldn’t tell anyone.”
Winter continued, “Two days prior to the death of the Hunters, DPA visited both mainframes on the same night using David’s log in, and the infamous Octopus Trojan software. That’s when the ‘anything else suspicious’ came into play. Three million pounds disappeared without trace. As far as Brian Jennings could ascertain, it had David Hunter’s footprints all over it. What he simply couldn’t understand was why.
“We’ve spoken to Jennings. Hunter had no answers, which caused him some serious concerns. He asked Jennings not to call the police immediately. Firstly, he was not guilty, and secondly, he said he wanted a chance to see if he could find out who was responsible. Against his better wishes, Jennings offered Hunter four hours to provide a solution. After that, head office and the police would be informed. All the money had been transferred into Bitcoin accounts.”
“So what happened, then?” Gardener asked.
“We don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” questioned Reilly.
“Other than the four names you have, do you know anything else about this company?” Gardener asked.
“No,” replied Winter. “Whoever they are, they’re absolute specialists. Other than what they wanted us to see, they have left no trace of themselves whatsoever. They floated in and out like cyber ghosts. I can’t tell you who they are, where they started, or even where they are located. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”
Gardener shook his head, wondering what on earth he was supposed to do about it all.
Chapter Ten
“DPA?” repeated Dave Rawson. “What the hell does that stand for?”
“We don’t actually know, yet,” replied Gardener.
