WASHINGTON — The FBI considers Evgeniy Bogachev one of the world’s most prolific and brilliant cyber criminals, slapping his photos — bald, beefy-faced and smiling faintly — on “Wanted” fliers posted online. The Russian would be an ideal target for prosecution — if only the Justice Department could find him.

Unable to bring him into custody in the 10 months since his indictment, the government has turned to a time-honored technique long used for more conventional crime: putting a bounty on Bogachev’s head.

It’s too soon to say whether the $3 million reward for information leading to his arrest — the first of its kind offered under a special State Department program — will ever pay off. But federal officials said they intend to use the strategy in additional cyber cases involving international hackers whose whereabouts are either unknown to the U.S. government or who are holed up in nations that have little or no diplomatic relations with the United States.

“We’ve really not done something like this” in cyber cases, Robert Anderson, an FBI executive assistant director, said in announcing the reward. “All of a sudden, somebody’s putting an ‘x’ on somebody, saying, ‘Bring him to justice, you get $3 million.”’

The reward is also a reminder of how many accused masterminds of cyberattacks on U.S. targets remain out of reach for federal law enforcement.