Infamous Russian hacker mocks the FBI by selling t-shirts featuring his most wanted poster

In brief: Not being able to catch an infamous hacker is a bad enough situation for law enforcement agencies, but it’s made even worse when the criminal trolls officers by selling t-shirts and other merchandise featuring his most wanted poster. It’s all just another day for Russian hacker Mikhail Matveev, who has been indicted for carrying out cyberattacks against US companies and critical infrastructure.

Matveev, who is also known as “Wazawaka” and “Boriselcin,” has been classified by the FBI as one of the most wanted hackers. In addition to his attacks in the US and elsewhere, he is accused of being a “central figure” in the creation and deployment of ransomware variants such as Hive, LockBit, and Babuk, and being involved with affiliate groups. He’s believed to still be in Russia, which means he is highly unlikely to face extradition to the United States, writes TechCrunch. In January 2021, Matveev said he had no plans to leave the protection of “Mother Russia.”

Rather than keeping a low profile and staying in hiding, Matveev has been celebrating his infamy by promoting t-shirts featuring his FBI most wanted poster on X, formerly Twitter.

ÐÂÑ кÑ pic.twitter.com/SCdBJkOXYE

– BorisElcin (@ransomboris) September 2, 2023

The poster shows the $10 million reward for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Matveev, who is wanted for intentional damage to and threats related to a protected computer. He’s also been charged with conspiring to transmit ransom demands. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison.

TechCrunch managed to verify that the X account really was managed by Matveev after he showed them a picture of his left hand, which has only four fingers. He also sent a selfie holding a piece of paper with TC reporter Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai’s name on it.

Matveev didn’t seem overly enthusiastic about answering questions related to his hacking, beyond objecting to the use of the word “hacker.”

“I don’t like this designation – hacker, we are a separate type of specialist, practical and using our knowledge and resources without water and writing articles,” he told the reporter. “I was interested only in terms of financial motivation, roughly speaking, I was thinking about what to do, sell people or become. it, [sic] let me tell you how I lost my finger?”

Matveev stopped answering messages at this point. He previously claimed to have cut off his finger after losing a bet.