A Romanian man was sentenced today to serve more than five years in prison for his role in an international fraud scheme involving online marketplace websites.
Razvan Caprarescu, 39, originally of Bucharest, Romania, was indicted in Tennessee in March 2014 for conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud in connection with the scheme. In June, his case was transferred to Florida, where he had been indicted in March 2013 for use and attempted use of a false, forged and counterfeit Belgian passport. He pleaded guilty to both charges in August 2014.
As part of his guilty plea, Caprarescu admitted that his co-conspirators fraudulently listed vehicles for sale at online marketplaces such as eBay, authorities said. When victims expressed interest in buying the vehicles, the co-conspirators responded with emails telling them to wire payments to specific bank accounts opened by Caprarescu and another co-conspirator using false identities and fraudulent documents such as counterfeit passports.
According to authorities, a total of 18 victims sent approximately $367,036 to accounts opened by Caprarescu between October 2011 and June 2012. Another 17 victims sent approximately $321,389 to accounts opened by Caprarescu’s co-conspirator.
Both Caprarescu and his co-conspirator sent the bulk of the money to other members of the operation residing overseas. Caprarescu also admitted that he used a false Belgian passport bearing an alias to rent a mailbox at a U.S. Pak-n-Ship store located in Broward County, Florida.
In addition to his prison term – which totals 63 months – Caprarescu was ordered to pay $658,441 in restitution.
More from Brian Prince
- U.S. Healthcare Companies Hardest Hit by ‘Stegoloader’ Malware
- CryptoWall Ransomware Cost Victims More Than $18 Million Since April 2014: FBI
- New Adobe Flash Player Flaw Shares Similarities With Previous Vulnerability: Trend Micro
- Visibility Challenges Industrial Control System Security: Survey
- Adobe Flash Player Zero-Day Exploited in Attack Campaign
- Researchers Demonstrate Stealing Encryption Keys Via Radio
- Researchers Uncover Critical RubyGems Vulnerabilities
- NSA, GCHQ Linked to Efforts to Compromise Antivirus Vendors: Report
Latest News
- In Other News: AI Regulation, Layoffs, US Aerospace Attacks, Post-Quantum Encryption
- Blackpoint Raises $190 Million to Help MSPs Combat Cyber Threats
- Google Introduces SAIF, a Framework for Secure AI Development and Use
- ‘Asylum Ambuscade’ Group Hit Thousands in Cybercrime, Espionage Campaigns
- Evidence Suggests Ransomware Group Knew About MOVEit Zero-Day Since 2021
- SaaS Ransomware Attack Hit Sharepoint Online Without Using a Compromised Endpoint
- Google Cloud Now Offering $1 Million Cryptomining Protection
- Democrats and Republicans Are Skeptical of US Spying Practices, an AP-NORC Poll Finds
