Earlier this year, the U.S. government indicted Russian hacker Mikhail Matveev, known online as "Wazawaka" and "Boriselcin," accusing him of being part of a "prolific ransomware coalition" that carried out "significant attacks" against companies and critical infrastructure in the United States and elsewhere.
The FBI also accuses him of being a "central figure" in the development and deployment of notorious ransomware variants such as Hive, LockBit and Babuk. Matveyev is such a well-known cybercriminal that the FBI named him one of its most wanted hackers. The FBI believes that Matveyev is still in Russia and is unlikely to be extradited to the United States.
However, Matveyev seems to be doing well in life and is now taunting the FBI by making a T-shirt with his wanted poster on it and asking his Twitter followers if they want to buy one.
Matveyev showed a photo of his left hand on X (formerly Twitter), proving it was really him, and according to Matveyev's FBI wanted page, his left hand only has four fingers. Matveyev also posted a selfie holding a piece of paper with the name of a reporter from this newspaper.
After he agreed to be interviewed, the media asked Matveyev a dozen questions about his life as a wanted hacker, but he didn't answer any of them. Instead, he complained that we used the word "hacker."
"I don't like the title - hackers, we are an independent expert type, practical, using our knowledge and resources," he wrote in an X direct message. "I'm only interested in financial motives, roughly speaking, what am I trying to do, traffic people or be he [sic], let me tell you how I lost my fingers?"
At this point, Matveyev stopped replying to messages.
The FBI declined to comment.
Matveev's online misdeeds, including lengthy interviews with cybersecurity journalists, posting selfies of himself driving around while listening to Metallica, and writing articles about his hacking activities, suggest he doesn't seem to care whether he's on the FBI's wanted list. As long as he doesn't leave Russia, his life may not be much different than it was before he was indicted.
"The weather is good, the climate is good, everything is fine. Even the sanctions make me happy," Matveyev said in the video, which he deleted after we published this article. "A lot of people are telling lies."