The Department of Justice today unsealed an indictment against a Lithuanian scammer who managed to trick two American tech companies into wiring him $ 100 million. The scammer, 48-year-old Evaldas Rimasauskas, did so by masquerading as a prominent Asian hardware manufacturer, according to court documents, and tricking employees into depositing tens of millions of dollars into bank accounts in Latvia, Cyprus, and numerous other countries. Rimasauskas was first indicted back in December, but the DOJ today unsealed the documents after arresting the man last week.
What makes this remarkable is not Rimasauskas’ particular phishing scam, which sounds rather standard in the grand scheme of wire fraud and cybersecurity exploits. Rather, it’s the amount of money he managed to score and the industry from which he stole it.
The indictment specifically describes the companies in vague terms. The first company is “multinational technology company, specializing in internet-related services and products, with headquarters in the United States,” the documents read. The second company is a “multinational corporation providing online social media and networking services.” Both apparently worked with the same “Asia-based manufacturer of computer hardware,” a supplier that the documents indicate was founded some time in the late ‘80s.
We don’t have these companies’ names. Yet it’s still fun to speculate whether the multinational technology company could be a certain California-based maker of popular smartphones, while the online social media and networking services company could be a certain maker of mobile apps and websites many people log into every day.
A scammer phished 2 US tech firms for $ 100M(!) via fraudulent bank transfers. But which co’s? (APPL and FB?)https://t.co/Iv1iGFQ9PG pic.twitter.com/JY2skHVZ38
— Jeff Roberts (@jeffjohnroberts) March 21, 2017
What’s more important is that representatives at both companies with the power to wire vast sums of money were still tricked by fraudulent email accounts. Rimasauskas even went so far as to create fake contracts on forged company letterhead, fake bank invoices, and various other official-looking documents to convince employees of the two companies to send him money.
Rimasauskas has been charged with one count of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, and aggravated identity theft. In other words, he faces serious prison time of convicted — each charge of wire fraud and laundering carries a max sentence of 20 years.
