'Fantomas', the FBI's Most Wanted: Russian $100m cyber-crime boss nicknamed after movie villain with largest ever bounty on his head flees after mysterious tip-off amid fears the Kremlin is protecting a 'hero'

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A cyber-criminal who pulled off one of the biggest computer heists in history - stealing more than $100million (£650,000) from online bank accounts - has gone on the run as it's feared the Russian government is protecting him.

Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev - nicknamed Fantomas by neighbours for his likeness to the bald movie villain from the 1960s - has a record $3million (£1.95million) bounty on his head after he vanished last May. 

Bogachev has been charged with conspiracy, computer hacking, wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering in connection with his alleged role as administrator of computer attack network GameOver Zeus.

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Big payout: The FBI on Tuesday announced a $3 million reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of a Russian hacker Evgeniy Bogachev

Evil empire: Fantomas is one of the most famous French crime fiction villains and featured in a 1960s movie

The FBI this week announced the bounty for information leading to his arrest and he was labelled 'perhaps one of the most serious cyber criminals found on planet earth' by U.S. Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs William Browfield.

From his discreet and anonymous Anapa home, working at night, Bogachev was aided by a sinister network of associates in the UK, Canada, Germany, France, Holland, Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, and Iran, it has been claimed.

Apparently acting on a tip, the 31-year-old geek suddenly packed and left his home last May with his glamorous wife Alona and young daughter, just 48 hours before the U.S. Department of Justice named him as the administrator of GameOver Zeus and the FBI put him on its Most Wanted list. He has not been back since.

Today, MailOnline can reveal the fugitive has a license for a foreign-made 12 caliber hand gun and a Russian hunting rifle so is suspected to be armed, and neighbours believe his hideaway is not far from the tower block where he lives.

They say Bogachev's personal driver, a man known to local police, arrives regularly to ensure his utility and community payments are up to date.

There are also fears he has the tacit support of support of Russian law enforcement and secret services. 

A neighbour, who revealed his nickname of Fantomas - one of the most popular characters in the history of French crime fiction - said: 'Evgeny and his wife Alona have never come back to the flat since they left suddenly.

'The lights are not on, and no one is living there. But they must be living somewhere close, not in Anapa probably, but not far away because their driver comes regularly to pay the bills.

'And I'm told they recently tried to rent out one of their flats through a local estate agent.'

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Likeness: Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev has been nicknamed Fantomas by neighbours for his likeness to the bald movie villain

Home: From his discreet and anonymous Anapa tower block (pictured), working at night, Bogachev was aided by a sinister network of associates in the UK, Canada, Germany, France, Holland, Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, and Iran, it has been claimed

There has been silence on the case from the Russian Interior Ministry, Russian Interpol and the powerful FSB counter-intelligence agency during the eight-month American search for Bogachev.

With relations at rock bottom between the U.S. and Russia, pro-Kremlin newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda quipped:

'It is only Russian police who is not looking for Bogachev.'

And one source said: 'Bogachev is probably being cared for secretly by the Russian government after causing so much panic in the West.

'He's likely to be awarded a medal as a hero for his efforts.'

The FBI claimed this week, however, that it does exchange information on the Bogachev case with the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).

Yacht-owning Bogachev seemed to have advance knowledge of the U.S. bid to snare him last year.

On May 31, he hurriedly made his getaway, said a neighbour who watched they family's hasty departure.

'They loaded their bags into the car and drove off without saying where they were going,' he said. 'He must have had a tip off.'

At least one Western cyber security expert Jeremy Rose - creator of security app FaceCrypt - has suggested Bogachev could be behind the $1billion dollar 'Carbanak' heist.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a 'Wanted' poster for Evgeniy Bogachev, who is charged in the United States with running a computer attack network called GameOver Zeus

Bogachev's home is in a 14-floor block in Lermontova Street in Anapa - one dubbed Russia's equivalent of UK seaside resort Blackpool

The scam targeted bank staff and allowed hackers to impersonate workers and transfer money into fraudulent accounts.

'Bogachev has been accused of being responsible for the Zeus virus, and if that's true he would certainly have the technical know-how to pull off a big attack like this,' Mr Rose said.

'Of all the other criminal outfits operating, the Gameover Zeus gang seem like the prime suspects for a financial cyber-theft on this scale.'

Local policeman Aslan Goshokov - whose beat covers the block - revealed that when the FBI announced their hunt for Bogachev, he received no orders to arrest the alleged international cyber-criminal.

'I only know that he is very wealthy and he bought a whole floor in this block,' he said.

'I heard he had a personal driver. This is quite an elite block, usually people from other towns buy flats there, and many flats are still on sale.

'Some Muscovites and Siberians bought flats here for the summer season.'

He was certain that Bogachev had no criminal record in Russia.

Neighbours at Bogachev's 14-floor block in Lermontova Street in Anapa - once dubbed Russia's equivalent of UK seaside resort Blackpool - expressed surprise that the quiet family man with a liking for expensive cars had been named by the FBI as the Mr Big of 'botnet' crime.

Policeman Aslan Goshokov - whose beat covers the block - said he wasn't given orders to arrest Bogachev

He owned a Lincoln, Grand Cherokee and BMW, while also employing a chauffeur.

It's said he bought several apartments on the same floor, protected by elaborate security measures and dubbed a 'flat fortress' by one Russian newspaper.

There were also claims he had bought a 330sq m, two-floor penthouse in the same block where he lived. 

But a neighbour who had been inside Bogachev's home said it had 'ordinary furniture, nothing flash'. 

'We are all shocked that he could do this,' said a neighbour who lives near his sixth floor apartment, which has a steel security door and an elaborate alarm system including a hidden camera. 

'I just don't believe from his flat with the lousy internet that we have in our block that he could cause such immense damage to the world's financial system. It doesn't add up.

'As for having a yacht and enjoying sailing, as the FBI claim, none of us, his neighbours, has ever heard this.'

However, they remember how the lights burned through the night.

'He didn't go out much. We knew he was working on his computer but not what he did,' said another local. 

Boat enthusiast: Bogachev is 'known to enjoy boating and may travel to locations along the Black Sea in his boat,' the FBI wrote in the wanted poster

'Most Wanted': The FBI this week announced the $3,000 bounty for information leading to his arrest

'He kept himself to himself. So did his wife who cared for their young daughter. He didn't really talk to other men in the block, other than to say hello.

'His daughter went to a nursery school and the family had a driver because the wife didn't drive.

'They went on foreign holidays because they came back with those airline labels on their cases, but I don't know where.'

Another called them a 'wealthy family', adding: 'Evgeniy never spoke about his job, but he was not really avoiding people.

'There were lights in his windows every night, as if nobody ever went to bed there. Now I know where they got the cash for such a lifestyle.

'He was working from home, day and night.'

While the block is reasonably prestigious in Anapa, it is far short of millionaire status.

'Perhaps he was hiding, and deliberately led a double life,' said one.

Today there is no reply at the heavy steel door with four locks but a glaring security light illuminates each time anyone goes close.

The neighbour who revealed his Fantamas nickname said: 'I would call him intelligent, correct, sober, nice, decent but not talkative.'

Fantômas is the Lord of Terror, the Genius of Evil, who featured in 32 pre-WWI French thrillers written by Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain

'I liked him. I am so shocked by these claims and frankly don't believe them,' the neighbour added.

'I just don't see him as this Mr Big, the way the FBI paint him.

'He was never poor but there was no evidence of great wealth like the Americans say.

'He is a small man, something of a bookworm. His wife stayed at home and looked after the child.' 

Given Bogachev's supposed wealth, the block, while in good condition, is hardly the lap of luxury by modern Russian standards.

At the time he fled, the value of the flat where Bogachev lived was around $200,000 (£130,000), but the collapse in the rouble since then has almost halved this amount.

Yet it is discreet and 'an easy place to hide', according to a local security guard.

The FBI said Bogachev 'is a keen boater and is known to sail around the Black Sea, bordered by countries including Bulgaria, Turkey and Georgia.

'He was last known to reside in Anapa, Russia, and also owns property elsewhere in the country in Krasnodar.'

A man with a matching name is registered as owning a business in Krasnodar, a region that also includes Sochi, site of the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Apparently acting on a tip, the 31-year-old geek suddenly packed and left his home last May with his glamorous wife Alona and young daughter, just 48 hours before the U.S. Department of Justice named him as the administrator of GameOver Zeus and the FBI put him on its Most Wanted list

The FBI suspects that while Bogachev lives in Russia, he may venture abroad. The bureau has called on countries with extradition treaties with the US to arrest him. Russia, in contrast, has a constitutional bar on extraditing its citizens.

FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director Joseph Demarest said: 'While he is known to reside in Russia, he may, in fact, travel.

'With this $3 million reward, what we hope would cause incentive for someone, somewhere, who may see him and report to the authorities his whereabouts by contacting the local authorities or the nearest US embassy or consulate.'

In 2014, a Pennsylvania court indicted Bogachev on charges of conspiracy, computer fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering.

An earlier 2012 Nebraska court indictment on conspiracy to participate in racketeering activity, bank fraud and aggravated identity theft was also disclosed.This related to an earlier variant of malware known as Jabber Zeus.

He was 'a true 21st Century criminal who commits cybercrimes across the globe with the stroke of a key and the click of a mouse', claimed US Deputy Attorney General James Cole in June 2014.

Bogachev and his ring infiltrated malware in victims' computers, allowing them to watch from Russia and intercepted account numbers and other information that was typed into computers.

Infected computers became part of a global network known as a 'botnet' controlled by the cyber criminals. Wire transfers were redirected to accounts run by his operatives, it is alleged.

He allegedly also used the botnet to deliver a malware called Cryptolocker, locking his victims' computer files.They could only unlock them by paying $700, according to messages received by victims and more than one million computers wordwide were hit.