By Poppy Bilderbeck
Evaldas Rimasauskas, a Lithuanian national, orchestrated a remarkable fraud scheme that netted him $122 million from tech giants Facebook and Google. Between 2013 and 2015, he impersonated Quanta Computer, a legitimate Taiwanese electronics manufacturer, by sending fraudulent invoices to the two companies.
Using forged contracts and fake letters purportedly signed by executives, Rimasauskas convinced Facebook and Google to wire substantial amounts of money for services that never existed. Facebook paid $99 million, while Google transferred $23 million, believing they were making legitimate business transactions.
Rimasauskas’s elaborate deception went undiscovered for several years until he was arrested in Lithuania in 2017 and subsequently extradited to the United States. In 2019, he pleaded guilty to wire fraud and received a five-year prison sentence. Additionally, he was ordered to forfeit $49.7 million and repay nearly $26.5 million.
This case serves as a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities in corporate cybersecurity, illustrating how even the most sophisticated organizations can be targets of phishing attacks. U.S. officials emphasized the need for vigilance and collaboration in combating such cybercrimes, which ultimately led to Rimasauskas’s arrest and the recovery of a significant portion of the stolen funds.
