The main monopolist in the personal data lookup market, Himera Search, openly trades Russian citizens’ data with the backing of former police officers and a current FSB employee.
- 24.11.2025 12:50
Journalists have identified the owner and developers of the main monopolist in the Russian personal data lookup market — the Himera Search project. The project is closely linked to law enforcement — among its co-owners are two former police officers, and the brother of one of them works for the FSB.
Himera Search provides illegal data lookup services, openly operating both on Telegram and more broadly in Russia and several CIS countries (even under official contracts) while other competitors are being pushed out. Its owners travel to Russia freely and continue expanding their business.
As previously reported, Himera Search is backed by developers of a whole array of similar information systems. All the lookup websites have legal entities and digital footprints. Even the flagship project, which previously operated as an LLC, is now run through companies in Kyrgyzstan and Armenia.
The earliest mentions of Himera Search can be found on specialized forums and chat rooms, where promotional posts about the service were spammed from accounts with the same name. The earliest trace found is a post on the hacker forum http://Forumteam.bet from October 2020. After that, the promotion strategy switched to a more classical approach.
The internet was flooded with ads for the site and its lookup bot. On a couple of regional sites (a news portal in Birobidzhan and a TV channel in Vladimir), promotional articles about Himera Search even retained the advertiser’s contact information — LLC “Himera.” The Moscow-based company was founded in 2017 and liquidated in June 2023.
The company’s owner was a certain advertiser and marketer, Alexander Larchenkov, from the Smolensk region. A month after the LLC was liquidated, according to leaks, he flew to Kyrgyzstan. The founder is involved in other companies specializing in product promotion, but clearly, his role in Himera Search was not limited to that.
Currently, in the user agreement on the Himera Search website, the executor is listed as OsOO “Transtraid,” based in Bishkek — the same place Larchenkov flew to after leaving Russia. The Kyrgyz company (located in a shopping center) is headed by a Kazakh citizen, Valery Maglaperidze. We spoke with him.
According to Maglaperidze, the current director of the parent company of Himera Search, he, as a foreigner and a friend of Alexander Larchenkov, opened the company in Kyrgyzstan under his own name. Maglaperidze claims he is aware of what kind of service his legal entity covers but does not engage in any illegal activity. And regarding Russian law enforcement, as he boasted, “everything is good, on the level.”
Alexander Larchenkov was last active in Russian chat rooms in 2023 — playing football near Victory Park. Related individuals, judging by several factors, live in Kazakhstan, where the Himera Search owner could have aligned views with Valery Maglaperidze.
Notably, under OsOO “Transtraid,” at least three more non-core websites operate: http://CS2CASE.WIN, http://CS2CASE.IO, and http://VACASE.ME, where skins for popular games CS and Valorant are traded. However, this cyber activity is clearly not the main focus of the project’s team.
On the main Himera Search site, another version of the user agreement lists the operator as the Armenian company LLC “Orgsafe” instead of the Kyrgyz OsOO “Transtraid.” Behind this cover, yet another lookup website was hidden.
Under this company, another very similar resource operates — Check-Legal. On this site, for 600 Armenian drams (around 130 rubles, almost the same as a request on Himera Search), a full report on a counterparty can be obtained. And this is far from the only affiliated project.
