America’s Most Wanted Cyber Criminals
Straight from the FBI, here are the most wanted cyber criminals in the world.
Hackers, spammers and identity thieves are the criminals that leave very little evidence behind, but when they do the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will be hot on their trail. Below are the top ten most wanted cyber criminals in the world, together with their crimes and reward price tags.
Charges like wire fraud and theft of trade secrets sound like white collar crimes, but when millions, if not billions, of people are affected it becomes much more intimidating. We can guess that even though few of the wanted criminals below acted alone, they have become the face associated with the invasions of privacy.
Keep a lookout for these top ten most wanted cyber criminals straight off of the FBI website, click the link to see photos of the accused.
#1. Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev
Crime: Bogachev is wanted and assumed to be responsible for the notorious Zeus viruses. His online monikers “lucky12345” and “slavik” were used for what the FBI call a “wide-range racketeering enterprise and scheme”. This scheme included the installation of viruses on internet users’ computers – without their knowledge – through spam and phishing emails. The virus then captured bank account numbers, passwords and other personal identification information used to log into bank accounts. The virus is connected to financial losses totalling more than $100 million. Bogachev has been under investigation since 2009, and is wanted on many charges including Racketeering, Bank Fraud, Money Laundering, Identity Theft and Conspiracy.
Reward: $3 million
#2. Nicolae Popescu
Crime: Popescu is wanted for his participation in a sophisticated internet fraud scheme where conspirators in Romania and other parts of Europe posted to internet auction markets and sold merchandise. The merchandise featured was not legitimate, but included instructions for wire transfers within the United States for payment. For these actions Popescu is wanted for Money Laundering, Passport Fraud, Wire Fraud and other crimes.
Reward: $1 million
#3. Alexsey Belan
Crime: Belan is wanted for identity theft through the hacking of three major e-commerce companies, all based in the United States. He allegedly stole account information including passwords from the company databases, and exported this to his own server for profit. He is wanted for Computer Intrusion, Aggravated Identity Theft and Fraud in Connection With a Computer.
Reward: $100,000
#4. Viet Quoc Nguyen
Crime: Nguyen is wanted for his participation in hacking at least eight email service providers (ESP) and stealing sensitive information, including proprietary information and over one billion email addresses. He then launched spam attacks on tens of millions of email addresses. Nguyen was officially charged with Wire Fraud conspiracy and computer intrusion after being indicted by a grand jury.
No reward offered.
#5. Peteris Sahurovs
Crime: Sahurovs is wanted for Wire Fraud, Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud and Unauthorized Access to a Protected Computer for his involvement in an international cybercrime ring in 2010. The scheme used a computer virus that sold fraudulent computer security programs and defrauded internet users out of $2 million.
#6. Sun Kailiang, #7. Huang Zhenyu, #8. Wen Xinyu, #9. Wang Dong, #10. Gu ChunHui
Reward: $50,000
Crime: #6 – 10 are all connected to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and are wanted for the hacking of six US companies. The accused allegedly stole proprietary information while engaged in joint ventures with the affected companies. The charges include; Conspiring to Commit Computer Fraud, Damaging Computers Through the Transmission of Code and Commands and Aggravated Identity Theft.
No reward offered.
On the off chance that you might have some information about any of the suspects we have listed, you can submit tips through the FBI website at fbi.gov/wanted/cyber. Your information could help justice be served and you could get a major payday if an arrest is made.
To learn how to better protect yourself from cyber criminals through our partnership with Sitelock visit Midphase.com.