The Post reports to the court about the six hundred thousand US dollars paid after being deceived.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) today (06) revealed before the Fort Magistrate's Court that the Sri Lanka Postal Department had disbursed over six hundred and twenty-six thousand US dollars, which was due to the US Post, to a third party based on fraudulent email messages.

Officials of the Criminal Investigation Department have reported to Fort Magistrate Pasana Amarasekara that this financial fraud occurred based on information received through three fake email addresses, and that a massive amount of money related to foreign payments has not been received by the relevant proper parties, and an investigation is underway regarding this.

Investigating officers pointed out that although the Universal Postal Union (UPU) provides official email and account information related to payments for global postal operations, in this questionable transaction, communication took place through an email address other than the official one.

It was revealed in court that nine fraudulent email messages have been received since June 2023, stating that a payment due to the American postal service has not been received, and the Postal Department has responded to three of these messages. Accordingly, a total of $626,755 was disbursed to an unknown third party on two occasions: $435,864 on February 19, 2025, and $190,891 on October 16 of the same year.

Officials of the Criminal Investigation Department, in response to a question raised by the Magistrate, stated that it has not yet been revealed to which specific person or party these funds were disbursed, and no suspects have been identified in connection with the incident so far.

Preliminary investigations have revealed that criminal offenses have occurred here under the Penal Code, the Computer Crimes Act, and the Public Property Act, and accordingly, the court granted permission to the Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Response Team (SLCERT) to conduct an on-site inspection of the Postal Department's email system.

The relevant case is scheduled to be recalled on July 22 for further consideration of reports related to the incident.