Tech
Facebook, Google fall victim of $100m email scam
Social media giants, Facebook and search engine power-house Google have both fallen victim to a $100 milion email scam.
When the incident was first exposed, feds revealed that they arrested a Lithuanian man named Evaldas Rimasauskas for perpetrating the phishing scheme.
However, they chose to keep the companies’ identities a secret. It became pretty easy to find the victims once Taiwanese parts supplier Quanta Computer admitted that the scammer used its company’s name.
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Quanta supplies parts for various tech titans, including Apple and Amazon. The sources Forbes talked to pinpointed Google and Facebook, though: one said the social network asked the US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan for help in getting back its money. Both companies eventually admitted that they were the unnamed victims in the case.
Facebook told the publication that it “recovered the bulk of the funds shortly after the incident and has been cooperating with law enforcement in its investigation.”
Google said it “detected this fraud against [its] vendor management team and promptly alerted the authorities.” Mountain View also confirmed recouping the funds it lost. While they already got their money back, the investigation still isn’t done.
Rimasauskas, who allegedly stashed the money in banks across Europe, continues to deny his involvement and to fight his extradition to the US.
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