Suspect Wanted in New York ZeuS Bust Captured in Boston

Agents from FBI's Boston Field Office have captured Nikolai Garafulin, one of the fugitives in the ZeuS-related cyberfraud cases announced by authorities in New York late last month.

On September 30, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney charged 37 defendants for their involvement in an international cyberfraud operation centered around the ZeuS banking trojan.

According to the authorities, the majority of suspects are of Eastern European descent and recruited or acted as money mules, who laundered money for fraudsters abroad.

Twenty of the suspects were already in custody when the indictments were announced and the remaining seventeen were named as fugitives. Some of them are believed to have already left the country.

The Boston Globe reports that last Wednesday, FBI agents descended at an address in Brighton, where they arrested Nikolai Garafulin, who is charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud in one of the New York cases.

The Boston Fire Department was also called at the scene, because Garafulin tried to flee and became trapped on a fire escape.

According to the complaint, Garafulin is a Russian national and on one occasion he is believed to have personally traveled with $150,000 from the United States to Russia in order to pay hackers.

He is charged together with Dmitry Saprunov, a co-national who was also originally reported as a fugitive, but was captured on October 1.

Garafulin's arrest brings the number of wanted suspects down to thirteen. Yulia Klepikova and Stanislav Rastorguev, two other defendants surrendered on October 3 and October 4, respectively.

"The public plays an integral role in tracking down these bad guys – you can help by calling in a tip to the FBI or your local police office" said FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko.

Eleven suspects were also charged in the United Kingdom as part of the same international law enforcement operation, while Ukrainian authorities arrested five individuals, believed to be the leaders of the gang.