most of the famous fbi files are cases where the bureau investigates crimes
that have already happened but much of the fbi's work is stopping crimes
there would be many more scary moments in history if it were not for their investigative work
or for the work of agents able to de-escalate situations
number five
in july of 2020 an unnamed tesla staffer received a whatsapp message from an old friend
igor krutschko krutchkov was a russian national who had known the staffer since
2016 but they hadn't spoken for a while they began chatting again and when krutchkov came
to america on a tourist visa in august they met up again krutchkov took the staffer to fancy
restaurants and picked up the tab but made sure not to be caught in any photos after a couple of
days together he took the staffer to a bar in reno where he made an interesting proposition
kuchkov would pay 500 000 to have a piece of malware placed on tesla's network this could
either be done with the usb stick or by opening a malicious email on the staffer's work computer
once the malware was on the tesla network the group khruchkov worked for could extort
millions of dollars from the company they had done it before they would extract corporate data
and effect operations then demand a ransom to stop the data being released online or for them
to leave the tesla operations alone the unnamed staffer said they would think about it and left
they reported the incident to tesla who in turn contacted the fbi this was a big break
for investigators companies mostly focus on stopping cyber threats from outside forces
and stopping an attack from inside hadn't been much of a priority hiring someone from inside the
company to place malware wasn't something many security experts had even heard about before
so uncovering the plot against tesla likely saved numerous other companies and institutions from
being attacked by the group and others like it working with the unnamed staffer the fbi gathered
evidence on khruchkov and the group khruchkov offered to up the reward to 1 million dollars
for going through with the scheme indicating he was confident they could get a lot of money
but at the last minute he told the staffer to postpone the attack as there had been a
problem with another scheme he was running at the time krutchkov tried to flee the country
but was arrested by the fbi in los angeles at the airport one security firm director described
the capture as a game changer and the incident will likely change the future of cyber security
number four
in october of 2014 mustafa ahmed awad met with an egyptian intelligence officer in a hotel room
in virginia awad had been born and raised in egypt but moved to the united states in 2007
and became a citizen in 2012. he now worked as a civil engineer at the norfolk naval shipyard in
portsmouth he had access to plenty of classified information including schematics for the uss
gerald r ford a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that was still under construction at the time
awad hoped by giving these schematics to the egyptian intelligence officer egypt would be able
to create its own fleet even if they couldn't awad helpfully pointed out vulnerabilities in the ship
he highlighted exactly what would need to be hit in order for the ship to be sunk
potentially taking the lives of all 4 000 navy service members stationed on board he also boasted
about being able to put tracking bugs on every ship that came into the shipyard giving egypt
access to information on the us's entire fleet then he requested money for a pinhole camera
which he would use to gather even more classified information awad was a capable tracker and knew
exactly how much danger he was putting himself in by doing this but he still wanted to help egypt he
and the intelligence officer spoke through encrypted emails with each one being abandoned
after just a single use and dead drops in a park according to awad it would take
the fbi 10 years to decode the encrypted emails fortunately for the fbi that wouldn't be the case
the egyptian intelligence officer he'd been speaking with was actually an undercover fbi agent
it's not clear when exactly the naval criminal investigative services became suspicious of a law
but the fbi got involved in the summer of 2014. in september the agent contacted awad directly via
telephone but awad took control of the situation from there awad was happy to explain to the
undercover officer how he believed providing egypt with the us technology was his life's mission
and he had turned down a lucrative job at a major defense contractor just so he could still
have access to the information he wanted to steal this wasn't about money to him he was arrested in
december of 2014 and pleaded guilty to attempted espionage he was sentenced to 11 years in prison
number three
on april 28 2019 the hard work of a number of fbi task forces and the phoenix police department
stopped a potential nuclear disaster that would have gone down as one of the area's scariest
moments in history jared atkins was 25 years old and had been living an apparently ordinary life
when he completely snapped he had been dealing with relationship
problems money problems and family problems but had mostly been keeping it together
that changed in the early hours of april that morning at 12 30 am he went to a gas station
and attacked the worker there with a knife in the arm after the attack he calmly walked away as if
nothing had happened atkins then drove to the western technologies building where he worked
atkins had had a rough childhood and had gone through a lot of tragedy at a young age
despite prejudices against him he had attended the aeronautics and technology college and got
a job at western technologies where he had been working for six years his job was maintaining
radiological devices meaning he had the skills to take them apart and put them back together again
and he knew how dangerous they were he took three projectors which were used to take
x-ray photographs of objects deep underground the projectors used a dangerous radioactive material
that would cause significant damage in just a few short hours if someone were exposed to it he then
sent a message to some co-workers telling them he had snapped and taken three devices he wanted
them to stay inside until they were found atkins wasn't entirely sure what his plan was he drove to
a mall apparently with the intentions of spreading some of the radioactive material around the plates
but the mall wasn't opened yet so he changed his plan he wanted to use the material to hurt
himself and anyone who tried to stop it there was also a plan to spread the material around himself
so he would be radiated along with any police officers who responded to his actions but he
also decided against that idea he eventually went back home where police and fbi agents found him
after a two-hour standoff atkins gave himself up without releasing any toxic chemicals
he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction
number two
in 2020 the fbi foiled an attempt to kidnap a sitting state governor an almost year-long
investigation resulted in more than a dozen people being charged with various offenses including
conspiracy to commit kidnapping and gang offenses it's an understatement to say the political scene
at the start of 2020 was pretty strained as it would only get worse as the year went on
people who were unhappy with the situation founded communities online some of these groups wanted to
make changes through peaceful routes but many were hotbeds for radicalization and extremism
it was one of these more violent groups that a u.s army veteran given the name dan joined he became
disturbed at the use of hunting apps to track police officers and informed a friend
who worked for the local police about the group the friend passed the information on to the fbi
and the fbi began investigating the group using a number of informants including dan the fbi
infiltrated the group michigan governor gretchen whitmer became the main target of their anger
the group was against her implementation of restrictions to slow the spread of covet 19
and believed that she and other politicians were trying to destroy america while whitmer
became the focus of their campaign many members of the group had written violent threats against
other politicians from both sides of the political divide the group planned to kidnap
whitmer and considered possibly simultaneously attacking the homes of other government officials
they decided to target whitmer while she and her family were at their vacation home on birch lake
they could kidnap her and either leave her on a boat in lake michigan without any power
or put her on trial as a tyrant in wisconsin using the informants the fbi was able to gather video
and audio footage of preparations for the attack the group constructed a model of the
governor's vacation home which they then used to practice their attacks
they also plotted to destroy one of the bridges leading up to the lakeside home to slow down
law enforcement and other responders in october the fbi had enough evidence to arrest the group
13 people were charged with state and federal crimes so far one has pleaded guilty but the
others have claimed to be the victims of fbi entrapment at the moment it's still unclear
whether the fbi stopped a scary moment in history or if they helped to plan one
number one
in late 2020 masih alinajad received a visit from a group of fbi agents they told her that there was
a threat against her life she wasn't too surprised but this was much more serious than the usual
threats she had been receiving for years masih was an iranian-born journalist and author who had
left the country in 2009 after speaking up against oppressive and discriminatory laws in the country
she had found her way to the united states and had been residing in brooklyn new york for years
she thought she was out of reach here it hadn't been as easy for her family they had been forced
to stay behind in iran and had been harassed since masih left the iranian government tried to bribe
them into luring masid to the country where she could be kidnapped but they refused in the end
massey's brother was arrested and sent to prison for crimes such as propaganda against the regime
and insulting the iranian leader masih was used to the online threats as she continued to rally
support against various human rights violations in the country she once called home but the fbi
agents at her door were talking of something offline for months a private investigator hired
by members of the iranian intelligence had been taking photos in video recordings of masih and her
household she was shown some of the images that had been captured including photos of her stepson
the private investigators were even told to photograph her mail but were told to
be discreet as they knew someone would be on the lookout for them the investigators were under the
impression masih had fled to dubai and had unpaid debts and the people they were working for just
wanted their money back in reality this footage was being used to prepare a kidnapping attempt
the group had done research into escape routes massey lived near the water and
the group planned to hire a military-style speedboat which they could bundle her into
they also had researched maritime routes from new york to venezuela which is friendly with iran from
there she would be sent back to iran to face trial for speaking out against the regime somehow the
fbi had managed to intercept some of the messages and had been able to warn masih she and her family
were taken to safe houses massey spent several months separated from her children and under
surveillance from the fbi but it was ultimately for her own protection one of the conspirators
has been arrested but four others remain at large in iran and it's unlikely they will face justice
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