The United States Department of Justice has charged Zohar Pinhasi, a dual citizen of the United States and Israel, with defrauding ransomware victims by secretly paying hackers while claiming to use proprietary tools to recover encrypted data. Pinhasi, also known as Zack Silver and Zack Green, faces two counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Each count carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

Operating under the name MonsterCloud, Pinhasi allegedly misled clients by advising them against paying ransoms and promoting the use of 'advanced decryption techniques.' However, instead of employing specialized tools, he is accused of paying the cybercriminals for decryptors and then charging clients significantly more than the ransom amount. For instance, in August 2023, Pinhasi reportedly paid a ransom of $8,200 but invoiced the client $150,000. Similarly, in October 2021, he allegedly made a ransom payment of approximately $236,000 and billed the customer around $380,000.

According to the Department of Justice, Pinhasi charged his clients over $19 million while paying more than $8 million in ransom payments. The FBI's Assistant Director James C. Barnacle Jr. criticized Pinhasi for exploiting his clients' crises for profit, emphasizing that such deception is unacceptable. MonsterCloud's public claims of using cutting-edge technology stand in stark contrast to these allegations, which reveal a pattern of deceit and exploitation.