The FBI has offered the princely sum of $3m to anyone with information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Russian cyber-criminal Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev, who’s accused of masterminding the infamous GameOver Zeus (GOZ) botnet.
The Feds claimed in a brief statement yesterday that Bogachev, who is on their Cyber’s Most Wanted list, is most likely still living in Russia, where he’s relatively safe from US prosecutors.
The note continued:
“Bogachev was charged in 2014 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with conspiracy, computer hacking, wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering in connection with his alleged role as an administrator of the GameOver Zeus botnet. Bogachev was also indicted by criminal complaint in Omaha, Nebraska in 2012 and charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud related to his alleged involvement in the operation of a prior variant of Zeus malware known as Jabber Zeus.”
The FBI said that GameOver Zeus captured bank account log-in details, allowing Bogachev and others to get away with huge sums. GOZ was responsible for over one million infections and resulted in financial losses of more than $100m, it added.
Not mentioned on the statement dated yesterday is Bogachev’s involvement in the related Cryptolocker campaign.
In the aforementioned 2014 charges (via The Register) it’s made clear that the infamous ransomware run is considered to have been carried out by the same group, with Bogachev at the helm, and that it contributed to the $100m in losses calculated by the authorities.
Bogachev is also said to have gone by the aliases ‘Pollingsoon,’ ‘Slavik’, and ‘lucky12345’.
Although the GOZ administrator is thought to be living in Russia, the Feds are hoping he may be spotted outside the country in a jurisdiction more sympathetic to the US.
“This was a worldwide infection, but it also had law enforcement worldwide working to combat it and bring to justice the criminal organization behind it,” said FBI assistant director Joseph Demarest in a statement.
“We are turning to the world again for assistance in locating Bogachev.”