Facebook and Google confirmed as victims of $100M phishing scam

Last month, the Department of Justice charged a Lithuanian man for fraud, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering after documents revealed he scammed two major tech companies for over $100 million by masquerading as a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer. A Fortune report this week identified those two affected companies as Facebook and Google.

Both companies confirmed to Fortune that their employees were victims of the phishing scam, where the perpetrator — 48-year-old Evaldas Rimasauskas — forged email addresses, invoices, and contracts to swindle Facebook and Google into paying for electronic supplies. The payments were deposited into bank accounts in Latvia, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Slovenia, Hungary, and Lithuania. 

The court documents unsealed by the DoJ last month described the two tech companies as a “multinational technology company, specializing in internet-related services and products, with headquarters in the United States,” and a “multinational corporation providing online social media and networking services.” There are hundreds of companies that could have fit the above descriptions, but the reveal makes it pretty obvious in hindsight.

Spokespeople for both Facebook and Google said they were able to recoup funds after detecting fraudulent activities, but did not disclose how much money each had sent to Rimasauskas.

If convicted, Rimasauskas faces prison time of up to 20 years for each count of wire fraud and money laundering, and a minimum mandatory sentence of two years for identify theft.

The article was published on : theverge