Man Sentenced For Email Scam That Defrauded Facebook, Google

A five-year prison term has been dealt to a man who defrauded Facebook and Google of a combined $120 million through an email phishing scheme.

Evaldas Rimasauskas, a Lithuanian citizen who was extradited to the U.S. in 2017, pled guilty to one count of wire fraud last March, and was sentenced last Thursday by U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels of the U.S. District for the Southern District of New York.

Rimasauskas reportedly faced 30 years in prison.

According to U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman, Rimasauskas persuaded the internet giants to wire funds for payment of invoices for legitimate expenses.

Rimasauskas incorporated a firm in Latvia that bore the same name as an Asia-based computer hardware manufacturer indentified in news reports as Quanta Computer.

The victim companies reportedly conducted regular multimillion-dollar transactions with Quanta. Inc.

The perpetrator then sent phishing emails to employees of the victim companies, and directed that payment be sent to the phony company’s bank accounts in Latvia and Cyprus. 

In addition to the prison term, the court ordered Rimasauskas to serve two years of supervised release, to forfeit $49.7 million and to pay roughly $26.4  million in restitution.

“Rimasauskas carried out his high-tech theft from halfway across the globe, but he got sentenced to prison right here in Manhattan federal court,” states U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman.

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