Facebook And Google Paid $122 Million Worth Of Phony Bills To European Facebook Scammer
A Facebook scammer from Lithuania pleaded guilty to wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and money-laundering charges last week. Evaldas Rimasauskas admitted to bilking $99 million from Facebook and $23 million from Google from 2013 through 2015. Rimasauskas sent the companies bogus invoices that they honored and paid out.
Evaldas Rimasauskas’ scam was also extremely brazen. He spoofed emails from executives at the companies. He also sent forged invoices and contracts that appeared to have been executed and signed by executives.
The invoices and contracts bore false corporate stamps embossed with the names company executives. The Facebook scammer submitted the invoices to two banks that handle the accounts for the two companies. The banks then transmitted the money via wire transfer.
No one at Facebook or Google checked to see if the invoices and purchase orders were legitimate.
Rimasauskas was able to pull off the scam because he created an LLC in Latvia that had the same name as Chinese computer manufacturer Quanta Computer Inc.
Rimasauskas will hand over $50 million as part of his plea deal. He is also known to have laundered money in Cyprus, Lithuania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Latvia.
The Facebook scammer will be sentenced over the summer. He faces up to 30 years in prison.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman wrote in a Justice Department press release containing the unsealed indictment from March 21, 2017:
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