La Casa de Papel (Money Heist), brought explosive drama, stylized rebellion, and a cast of criminals we were somehow encouraged to root for. To some, Tokyo, Berlin, Rio, Moscow, Helsinki, Oslo, Nairobi, and Denver are just cities around the world but to La Casa de Papel lovers, they are our beloved characters. They all have a common goal, plan the perfect heist and steal one billion dollars. What if I told you that a one billion dollar heist already has happened in real life?
The first heist of La Casa de Papel is set in the Royal Mint, Spain. The heist is carefully orchestrated by an ominous figure known as The Professor; who builds a team of eight specialists, all with the common goal to take over the Royal Mint and print over two billion dollars. Contrasting to normal heists, the team doesn’t steal existing money, they manufacture their own while keeping hostages under control for eleven days. This is an atypical crime because of its philosophical aspect– The Professor states the operation as a political act, a protest against financial inequality. The show is constantly filled with moral dilemmas and emotional entanglements. Although of its surrealness, the heist captivates watchers because the chaos feels like choreography.
The Bangladesh Bank heist happened quietly– no masks, no guns, no hostages, and no speeches. In early 2016, unknown hackers infiltrated Bangladesh’s central bank system and submitted a series of fraudulent transfer requests. Targeting Bangladesh was a strategic choice, since most banks rely on the SWIFT system that links institutions worldwide, and Bangladesh, with far weaker security measures, became the vulnerable “weak link.” The plan was simple: move nearly one billion dollars from Bangladesh to various accounts in the Philippines and Sri Lanka. The attackers successfully stole $81 million dollars, but a spelling error in one of the requests triggered suspicion and froze the remaining requests. No hostages. No alarms went off– and yet, an invisible group almost pulled off the biggest bank robberies in modern history.
While La Casa de Papel thrives on spectacle, the Bangladesh Bank heist thrives on silence. One filled television screens with hostages, romance, and high drama, while the other unfolded quietly in banking systems, without a single shot fired. The Spanish crew wanted to win over the public, the hackers wanted to remain invisible. One crime was a performance; the other was almost undetectable.
In the end, the difference is clear: fiction entertains us, reality unsettles us. La Casa de Papel gave viewers a story of rebellion and impossible escape, while the Bangladesh Bank heist reminded the world that billion-dollar robberies can happen without red jumpsuits or fanfare—just a keyboard, an open weekend, and a vulnerable system.
Sources:
Kabir, Mohammad Sami A. “Lessons Learned From the Bangladesh Bank Heist.” ISACA Journal, vol. 6, 2023, ISACA, 6 Dec. 2023.
