US court jails scammer who fleeced Facebook and Google out of $120m in email fraud

Rimasauskas shook down Google and Facebook with fake emails purporting to be from a major Taiwan-based supplier

A Lithuanian scammer has been sentenced to five years in prison for his role in defrauding Facebook and Google out of $120 million.

Evaldas Rimasauskas, 50, was also ordered to pay $49.7 million in a fine and $26.5 million in restitution. Rimasauskas will serve two years of supervised release after his prison term.

Rimasauskas was extradited to the US in August 2017, following his arrest in Lithuania the same year. Rimasauskas had set up a company called "Quanta Computer" in Latvia, the same as the Taiwan-based contract manufacturer.

Rimasauskas duped the two firms by sending them fake emails

The genuine Quanta Computer is a supplier to both companies.

According to the US authorities, Rimasauskas duped the two firms by sending them fake emails, which appeared to have come from accounts of Taiwan-based Quanta Computer, although they actually came from email accounts of Rimasauskas's company.

In those emails, Rimasauskas and his accomplices sought payments from Facebook and Google for outstanding bills, and asked them to make payments to bank accounts in Cyprus and Latvia.

After the payments were completed, Rimasauskas quickly moved the money into various accounts based in Latvia, Cyprus, Lithuania, Slovakia, Hungary, and Hong Kong.

The scammers also forged contracts, invoices, and letters that falsely appeared to have been signed by executives from Google and Facebook. The forged documents were submitted to banks in support of online wire transfers.

"Rimasauskas carried out his high-tech theft from halfway across the globe, but he got sentenced to prison right here in Manhattan federal court," US Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in a statement.

"Through these false and deceptive representations over the course of the scheme, Rimasauskas, the defendant, caused the Victim companies to transfer a total of over $120,000,000 in US currency from the victim companies' bank accounts to company two's bank accounts," the Justice Department added.

Rimasauskas pleaded guilty earlier this year.

Google and Facebook executives told the New York Times in March that they had recovered most of the money with the aid of law-enforcement agencies.