A seventeen year old boy was taken to U.S. court and pleaded guilty to charges which ranged from fraudulent use of a credit card, placing fake emergency calls to the police, and calling in bomb threats. The teenager will serve out an eleven month sentence in juvenile detention for this crime spree that ran from 2005 to 2008. The teen’s first cyber crime took place when he illegally obtained a credit card to purchase a PlayStation 3. After this, he stole credit card numbers from different online service websites to buy goods for himself and others after re-routing the packages to make it harder for police to track. This case offers sociologists a chance to delve into the mind of cyber criminals and discover their incentives, beginnings, and progress in their specialty. This teen used a credit card without consent of the holder to buy himself a gift when he was fifteen; he found out that it was easy and he could get away with it, leaving him yearning for more. This teen eventually turned into a hacker, obtaining credit card numbers stored in computer systems via botnets, or programs target and scan computers for information. For an added thrill, he called in bomb threats and emergency calls to SWAT because he perceived himself as untouchable, only to be caught and prosecuted for his crimes.
Although rarely caught, I think that this case is a great testimony to the thinking of a hacker, showing the point where one starts and how quick it takes to become a professional. This is also a unique case as the child started when he was fifteen, showing that skill and age do not coincide when it comes to being a cyber criminal. Sociologists can learn from this article that the global crime of internet fraud has too many incentives and potential for people to pass up and that countries with access to the internet have a force to watch out for in the immediate future.
Article originally on Google News by Linda Bock
6 comments:
I'm glad the kid got caught. It makes you think twice before you buy something over the internet.
It's so unfortunate that people use the Internet for more bad than good.
It is actually nice to hear of a hacker being caught for a change. Basically everything can be done over the internet now and it is scary to think that hackers can peruse your personal information at their leisure.
After my identity was stolen this past year, I'm glad to hear that this kid got caught, although its only one person in a criminal world of many it makes me feel better to hear that now we might have insight to the hackers' mind.
It's a good thing he got caught. However, it is scary that a 15 year old kid can so easily hack into credit card information over the internet. With the increase of people making purchases over the web, it's crucial to put an end to these crimes.
I don’t think 11months is enough. This kid is so lucky he was underage, if was any older he would be in a lot more trouble. I can’t believe this went on for three years and no one caught onto it. I’m not sure who to blame. Some would say it’s the parents fault for not keeping an eye on him, but at that age you know the fundamentals of right and wrong.
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