Fergie's Tech Blog

Fraud Reveals Workings of Internet Theft

An AP newswire article by Ted Bridis, via Yahoo! News, reports that:

The illicit haul arrived each day by e-mail, the personal details of computer users tricked by an Internet thief: a victim's name, credit card number, date of birth, Social Security number, mother's maiden name.

One more Internet "phishing" scam was operating. But this time, private sleuths soon were hot on the electronic trail of a thief whose online alias indicated an affinity for the dark side. The case moved ahead in part because of an underground tipster and the thief's penchant for repeatedly using the same two passwords — "syerwerz" and "r00tm3."

Unraveling a scheme that also had hacked Kenyon College in Ohio leapt across continents and ultimately pointed toward a neighborhood in Granby, Quebec. It offers an extraordinary glimpse behind an Internet fraud that targets the most trusting computer users.

"This is really lousy," said Johan Fabris of Holmes, Pa. The 82-year-old grandmother had her online bank account hijacked. Her teenage grandson set up the account for her to sell hand-sewn doll clothes in Internet auctions.

"This was my first foray into the modern computer world. These damn people, life is complicated enough," Fabris said.

posted by Fergie @ 9/12/2005 07:15:00 AM