INTERNET BUYERS BEWARE: THE GOODS MAY NOT EXIST...SAYS FBI

DUMITRU

NICOLAE

The FBI is offering 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 multi-million-dollar cyber fraud scheme, and Dumitru Daniel Bosogioiu, another Romanian fugitive charged with participating in the scheme.

The defendants are charged with participating 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.
Up to $1 million is being offered for information on Popescu and up to $750,000 for information on Bosogioiu. 
Interpol has previously issued Red Notices to foreign law enforcement partners seeking assistance in the apprehension of these fugitives, and the FBI has also released wanted posters to facilitate their arrests. 
 FBI also announced the addition of Nicolae Popescu to the FBI’s Most Wanted Cyber Fugitive List.

Dumitru Daniel Bosogioiu is wanted for his alleged participation in a sophisticated Internet Fraud scheme where criminal enterprise conspirators, based in Romania and elsewhere in Europe, posted advertisements on Internet auction market sites for merchandise for sale. Such advertisements contained images and descriptions of vehicles and other items for sale, but those items did not really exist.

Conspirators posing as sellers then negotiated via e-mail with unsuspecting buyers in the United States. These "sellers" sent fraudulent invoices that appeared to be from legitimate online payment services, to the victim buyers, with instructions for payment to bank accounts held by other conspirators in the United States.

These conspirators opened United States bank accounts under false identities using fraudulent passports made in Europe by other conspirators.

When victims wired money to an account identified on the false invoices, the conspirator associated with that account would be notified and then would withdraw the proceeds and send them via wire transfer to another conspirator based on e-mailed instructions.

A federal arrest warrant was issued for Dumitru Daniel Bosogioiu on December 20, 2012, in the United States District Court, Eastern District of New York, Brooklyn, New York, after he was charged by indictment for Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, Money Laundering, Passport Fraud, and Trafficking in Counterfeit Service Marks; Wire Fraud; and Money Laundering.

If you have any information concerning this case, and you are outside the United States, please contact the nearest American Embassy or Consulate. Inside the United States, please contact your local FBI office or the FBI's Toll Free Tipline at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324). You may also submit a tip online at: tips.fbi.gov.

Nicolae Popescu is also wanted for his alleged participation in this scheme.