Two deported (and obviously clueless) Russian spies are demanding the immediate return of personal property confiscated by the FBI during an espionage investigation in 2010.
Yes, Vladimir and Lidia Guryev – aka Richard and Cynthia Murphy – have filed an official complaint with the U.S. government via a (chuckling) legal counsel.
The two are reportedly asking for the transfer of $190,000, three cars, computers, cameras and other unspecified equipment.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, the spy duo also wants authorities to return data stored on various computers and cameras.
Although they have no “material value,” they are considered “dear to the Guryevs.”
Seriously!?!?
Now it just might be stating the obvious, but as Wired’s Adam Rawnsley cautions, the spies aren’t simply asking for the return of sentimental objects, but rather, the tools of their trade.
For example, the two used laptops with special software to communicate with their bosses, which were also loaded with steganography programs.
If deployed properly by competent individuals, steganography allows users to hide information within other seemingly innocuous data.
And the Guryevs were doing just that, by inserting readable text files into images. Except they were caught – eventually.
Hopefully, the Department of Justice will throw the above-mentioned request where it belongs: in the trash.
