US offers record $3 mn for information on Russian hacker

Washington, Feb 25 (IANS/EFE) The US State Department is offering a record reward of $3 million for information leading to the capture of a Russian computer hacker.

The man, Evegeniy Bogachev, is wanted for allegedly robbing $100 million through a computer virus.

It is the largest amount of money ever offered by the US government for a cyber criminal, the department said in a statement announcing the reward.

The FBI is on the hunt for Bogachev, also known as 'lucky1235' and 'slavik', for allegedly creating software called 'Game Over Zeus'.

With this software, the Russian hacker steals bank information from its victims, allowing him access to millions of dollars from US companies and individuals.

In a period of two years, the virus has affected more than a million computers.

The US Justice Department and other agencies were unsuccessful in confining the software which has been accessing bank customer information since mid-2014.

The State Department said Tuesday that Bogachev has now fled to Russia.

The US believes that Bogachev is the leader of a sophisticated gang of cyber criminals who have together created 'Game Over Zeus' and other such viruses as 'Cryptolocker' to steal information.

Bogachev is accused of bank fraud, computer hacking and money laundering among other criminal offences.

--IANS/EFE

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