The FBI is offering $4.2m for info on the creator of the world's most infamous malware
The FBI revealed the $1.2 million bounty increase on its "Cyber Most Wanted" page. The bounty is available to anyone who can offer information leading to the arrest and or conviction of Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev.
Bogachev was originally charged by he FBI for a variety of offenses in 2014 and carried a $3 million bounty.
The FBI says he is currently "wanted for his alleged involvement in a wide-ranging racketeering enterprise and scheme that installed, without authorisation, malicious software known as 'Zeus' on victims' computers."
Zeus is a financially focused malware designed to steal valuable information from machines, such as bank account numbers, passwords, personal identification numbers, and online banking account login details.
It was one of the most used and successful botnet attack tools used by cyber criminals and is believed to have enslaved between 500,000 to a million computers at its peak.
However, the use of Zeus subsequently dropped in June 2014, after a coordinated strike by law enforcement agencies across the globe, including the UK National Crime Agency (NCA) and US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) temporarily shut down its criminal network.
Bogachev is believed to currently live in Anapa, Russia, a seaside resort town on the northern coast of the Black Sea, where he reportedly sails his yacht.
If caught, the specific charges facing Bogachev include computer fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy to participate in racketeering activity, conspiracy to violate the computer fraud and abuse act, and aggravated identity theft.
The news follows wider efforts by the NCA and FBI to catch cyber criminals.
The US court sentenced a man named Ross Ulbricht, 31 to two terms of life in prison and three lesser sentences for running an underground online black market, known as Silk Road, in May.