$1M reward offered for cyber-fraud arrest

November 18, 2014 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Photo provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation

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U.S. State Department’s Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program announced the offering of rewards for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Romanian fugitive Nicolae Popescu, the leader of an international organized crime syndicate that ran a multimillion dollar cyber-fraud scheme, and Dumitru Daniel Bosogioiu, another Romanian fugitive charged with participating in the scheme.

Up to $1 million is being offered for information on Popescu and up to $750,000 for information on Bosogioiu.

Defendants Nicolae Popescu and Dumitru Daniel Bosogioiu were originally charged in a criminal complaint with 11 other defendants for their participation in a cyber-fraud conspiracy that targeted primarily American consumers on such U.S.-based websites as Cars.com and AutoTrader.com.

The charges were brought by the office of Loretta E. Lynch, U.S. Eastern District of New York.

It is alleged that the defendants participated in a long-term conspiracy to saturate Internet marketplace websites including eBay, Cars.com, AutoTrader.com and CycleTrader.com with detailed advertisements for cars, motorcycles, boats and other high-value items — generally priced in the $10,000 to $45,000 range — that did not actually exist.

According to the government, the defendants employed co-conspirators who corresponded with the victim buyers by email, sending fraudulent certificates of title and other information designed to lure the victims into parting with their money. The defendants also pretended to sell cars from nonexistent auto dealerships in the United States and created phony websites for these fictitious dealerships.

“[This] reward offered by the State Department makes clear that we are determined in our efforts to find these fugitives, no matter where they hide, and bring them to justice for the crimes they have committed against our citizens,” Lynch said.

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-Information provided by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York