Lithuanian Man Indicted in $100 Million BEC Scheme
Posted by: Timothy Weaver on 03/23/2017 01:39 PM
[
Comments
]
A Lithuanian man, Evaldas Rimasauskas, 48, has been indicted for using a phishing scam to bilk two companies out of $100 million.
Evaldas Rimasauskas is charged with orchestrating a fraudulent scheme used to deceive targeted companies that included a multinational technology company and a multinational online social media company.
Rimasauskas registered a company in Latvia with the same name as an Asian-based computer hardware manufacturer. He also established accounts in banks in Latvia and Cyprus. He then started sending phishing emails to the companies that did business with the legitimate company requesting payments.
He also created "forged invoices, contracts, and letters that falsely appeared to have been executed and signed by executives and agents of the Victim Companies, and which bore false corporate stamps embossed with the Victim Companies’ names, to be submitted to banks in support of the large volume of funds that were fraudulently transmitted via wire transfer,” U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, says.
The wire transfers were then shuffled back and forth between banks in Latvia, Cyprus, Slovakia, Lithuania, Hungary, and Hong Kong.
Rimasauskas is charged with one count of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering (each carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison), and one count of aggravated identity theft.
“From half a world away, Evaldas Rimasauskas allegedly targeted multinational internet companies and tricked their agents and employees into wiring over $100 million to overseas bank accounts under his control. This case should serve as a wake-up call to all companies – even the most sophisticated – that they too can be victims of phishing attacks by cyber criminals. And this arrest should serve as a warning to all cyber criminals that we will work to track them down, wherever they are, to hold them accountable,” acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said.
Source: Security Week
Evaldas Rimasauskas is charged with orchestrating a fraudulent scheme used to deceive targeted companies that included a multinational technology company and a multinational online social media company. Rimasauskas registered a company in Latvia with the same name as an Asian-based computer hardware manufacturer. He also established accounts in banks in Latvia and Cyprus. He then started sending phishing emails to the companies that did business with the legitimate company requesting payments.
He also created "forged invoices, contracts, and letters that falsely appeared to have been executed and signed by executives and agents of the Victim Companies, and which bore false corporate stamps embossed with the Victim Companies’ names, to be submitted to banks in support of the large volume of funds that were fraudulently transmitted via wire transfer,” U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, says.
The wire transfers were then shuffled back and forth between banks in Latvia, Cyprus, Slovakia, Lithuania, Hungary, and Hong Kong.
Rimasauskas is charged with one count of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering (each carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison), and one count of aggravated identity theft.
“From half a world away, Evaldas Rimasauskas allegedly targeted multinational internet companies and tricked their agents and employees into wiring over $100 million to overseas bank accounts under his control. This case should serve as a wake-up call to all companies – even the most sophisticated – that they too can be victims of phishing attacks by cyber criminals. And this arrest should serve as a warning to all cyber criminals that we will work to track them down, wherever they are, to hold them accountable,” acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said.
Source: Security Week
Comments
