Fed2 Star - the newsletter for the space trading game Federation 2

The weekly newsletter for Fed2
by ibgames

EARTHDATE: November 22, 2015

Fed2 Star last page Fed2 Star: Official News page 7 Fed2 Star next page

DUMB CRIMINAL OF THE WEEK: HACKER HIRER HIRES UNDERCOVER COP

by Hazed

A criminal who owed $16,000 in court charges didn’t want to pay. So he decided to hire a hacker to illegally access the court records and erase the fine.

But Zachary Landis went about it in a really dumb way: he posted an ad on Craigslist asked for a hacker, and what’s more, he used his real email address and phone number to make the post.

A police detective spotted the ad and replied to it, pretending to be a hacker. The two then corresponded about exactly what Landis wanted done, during which he handed over the ID numbers of his previous convictions and asked that the hacker erase a small part of the debt as a proof of his skills before paying him.

Police traced the email and contact details, not to mention the court ID numbers, back to Landis, and arrested him. He has been jailed for two years for computer trespass, tampering with public records and unlawful use of a computer.

And he still has to pay the original fines.

Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/04/craigslist_hcker_prison/

Fed2 Star last page   Fed2 Star next page