A “money mule” that helped hackers who misappropriated foreign data got stuck in Lithuania

Vilnius businessman Tigran Šachparonian will have to return this amount of money to the BCI growth and innovation fund registered in Switzerland.

This was decided by the Vilnius Regional Court, which found T. Šachparonian guilty of fraud. Not only that, the judges ruled that the man who helped the scammers, whom he did not betray, would have to spend two years behind bars.

Chessparon was also charged with another fraud in which he evaded paying nearly $ 79,000. One billion euros for refrigeration gas equipment, but these charges were withdrawn because the judges considered that the breach of the property obligation did not give rise to criminal responsibility.

Based on the case data, it was established that in 2018. April 10, unidentified persons hacked into IDH’s email server in Utrecht, the Netherlands, and the forwarding function was made available to the hacker’s email correspondence. between the company in the UK capital, London, and the BCI Foundation in Geneva, Switzerland.

The BCI Fund has authorized IDH, a company established in the Netherlands, to transfer funds from the BCI Fund on behalf of that fund in accordance with the terms of the contracts entered into on behalf of the BCI Fund.

The London and Geneva-based companies had signed a contract for the implementation and development of the CottonConnect-Nawabshah project, Sindh, on the basis of which an invoice for 126 thousand was submitted to the BCI Fund for payment. 212,40 EUR

In fact, with this agreement, the BCI Foundation undertook to finance the implementation and development of the project up to 210 thousand. 354 euros, which had to be paid to the London company by bank transfer, with partial payments of 126 thousand euros, respectively. and 84 thousand. Payments in euros.

As soon as the first invoice was sent for payment, the hacker who hacked the system changed the invoice details and replaced the payee with a Lithuanian registered company T. Shachparonian instead of the payee.

That invoice was paid by IDH, a company established in the Netherlands, operating under a mandate from the BCI Fund. As soon as the money reached the account of a businessman working in Vilnius, he spent most of the money – 126 thousand. Eur – transferred to another company and collected, used for various deals and made various financial transactions in about a month

Officials discovered that Shachparonian had even bought lottery tickets with the money he had received illegally, in the hope that it would be even more successful.

It turned out very quickly that the money did not reach the actual recipient, but the fraudulently seized money could not be found. Although the hackers have also not been identified, data recorded by officials suggests that the hackers are likely living in Nigeria.

Mr. Shahparonian, who was on trial at the time, stated that he had no contact with the thieves and that there was no evidence that he had transferred the money to his accomplices, who had not been identified.

The businessman also assured that he did not know anything about the companies in Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

“The fact that I did not return the money I received to the BCI Fund does not in itself mean that fraud was used to confiscate it,” Shachparonian told the court.

The businessman assured me that the money for the services rendered had been transferred to the account of the company that he managed by a business partner from Russia. It is true, not directly, but through an offshore company.

“Such cases are common in business,” argued the man who had made an honest mistake in receiving the money in his company account because he was convinced that the money had been transferred to his business partner for previous company services such as debt.

However, the judges who evaluated the data collected during the pre-trial investigation and the trial had different opinions: there is sufficient evidence in the case that T. Šachparonian fraudulently acquired high-value foreign funds.

According to the judges, during the criminal proceedings in court, T. Shachparonian claimed that he did not even know the exact contacts of the Russian businessman, he never knew the first or last name, and his cooperation was based on mutual trust, without written agreements. .

“In general, he did not pay for each transport service provided to the company he managed, but for a larger amount, for orders of about 6 months; I would tell him how much to pay and he would make the payment orders, “said the businessman in court. – The Russian company received services for about 80 thousand. EUR, and the remaining amount transferred – about 46 thousand. Eur, it was the profit of the company. “

Shahparonian confirmed the validity of his version and explained that a Russian businessman had sent him a contract with the BCI Fund to his post office before the money was transferred.

The accountant who worked for the businessman at the time said that 126,000 had been received into the account. The amount of euros was “so big” and it surprised her.

“The company had only 8-20 thousand. Contracts worth EUR, and contracts with Russian partners were not frequent, they were small orders, these contracts did not exceed the value of a thousand euros,” said the financier.

During the pre-trial investigation, officials found numerous letters on Shachparonian’s computer in which he corresponded with potential “hackers.” After evaluating this correspondence, the judges stated that “T. Chessparon was chosen as the money courier for this crime (money mule) that receives funds in your bank account (usually cross-border transfers) and then has to transfer them to another account or to specific third-party bank accounts in exchange for a fee (withholding part of the transferred amount). “

The justices even provided excerpts from Mr. Chachparonian’s correspondents (uncorrected language):<...> Please can you send me a picture of your SEB account in Lithuania, as there is a payment of 126,000 euros, there and my people are fighting for me to make sure you did not receive it. Also, can you please send a payment to China, as this causes me a lot of problems and affects my business ”; “We need to show you a bank statement. We want to check if the funds are available in your bank account.” “<...> Please can I shoot a paysera movie to show the guy behind paysera that the money is still with you? Such an image, as before, to<...>“.

Letters are also quoted and sent to the entrepreneur: “Where did you transfer our 126,200 EUR?”; “Have you already contacted P.? Please send me a photo showing 126,200 insurance on your account. “;” Where is the 126,000 euros you received in your SEB account in Lithuania? “;” Please do so now. SEB Empresa Bancaria Customer Service Department.

By the way, Mr. Shahparonian was in no rush to follow the instructions, so it was necessary for him to do so if future cooperation was to be maintained, as well as the countries to which the transfers were to be made, the percentage to be paid to other people involved in money laundering.

“Brother, I’m talking about your Lithuanian sebe, if you don’t agree, return the money to the sender, that’s how big the problem for the police will be”; “Hello brother, I am not afraid of the police, I sent three people to meet you. Return this money to the bank that sent the money. Do not be ashamed to report it to the police “;” The money, € 126,000, does not belong to a client, it belongs to another client, you cannot keep money that does not belong to you. I told you to remember previous transactions. You cannot keep this money because the bank has reported the interpolation ”;“ If you don’t want to transfer 50 percent. to our client, transfer € 126,200 to their SEB bank account and notify the bank of the refund to the account they came from. Send a confirmation that the bank returns all the money to the account from which it came “;

Our client informed us that the transfer of 126,200 Eur has been made to another account. We are not accusing the theft of the Lord, but we are trying to get out of this situation. We want to believe in the Lord. We don’t want to ruin our cooperation with a customer from Africa for several years. We have not had such problems before. Please transfer the amount of € 63,100 as collateral to our European account ”; “We are interested in further cooperation, but on the condition that you do not highlight the invoice you paid for 126,200 euros, that is why we want to assign this company to one of our people”; “I was informed that the only way out in this situation is to rewrite the account of the Lithuanian company and SEB BANK to one of our partners. We can continue to work together, as long as we resolve this situation.”

According to the judges, the content of the correspondence in the case, the speeches on the percentages of other actors, the cooperation both in the past and in the future, the maintenance of cooperation, etc., and Shachparonian stated in a letter that ” the money arrived in Nigeria safely in April, “confirming that the Vilnius resident acted together with the people who hacked into the IDH server.

“On the basis of the evidence gathered in this case, it is conclusively established that the criminal act of T. Šachparoniano (fraud against the BCI Fund) was committed together with other unidentified persons, with their prior agreement and division of tasks,” he said. Vilnius. Regional Court ruling. – The implication of Mr. Chachparonian in the crime was due to the fact that the company to whose bank account the sum of 126 212.40 euros had been transferred had nothing to do with the BCI Fund or the project financed by said fund, and the origin of that money (financial matter executed (or executed)) and without any legal and real justification for the appearance of these funds in the account of his company, that is, when he realizes that it is a foreign property for him or Your company, did not notify the police authorities of the receipt of money, did not return this money to the BCI Fund.

On the contrary, the day after they were received, they were transferred to another account belonging to your company, after which they were used both for their own needs and for the benefit of other persons (physical or legal): cash, orders, etc. . . “

The panel of judges noted that T. Šachparonian committed the property crime by acting directly with the intention, for material gain, the property caused significant property damage, which is not compensated.

Shachparonian has also been convicted in the past of a felony property crime, high value theft, and was convicted in January of illegally collecting information about his ex-spouse.