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Hackers Charged for Stealing Over $9M From ATMs

After running an elaborate scam that netted about $9 million, eight men were indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday for their alleged roles in a massive ATM hacking scheme. While similar heists have been pulled before, this one is impressive not only because of the large chunk of cash, but because of the sheer scope of the crime, as well.

According to Threat Post, hackers discovered a way to bypass RBS WorldPay's payroll debit card encryption system sometime last November. After doing so, they created 44 debit cards and increased the limit on each one. Within 12 hours, they had withdrawn $9 million from 2,100 ATMs in 280 different cities. Now, that's some day of work! The alleged hackers -- most of whom are from Eastern Europe -- were busted when, prosecutors say, they failed to cover their tracks on the card-processing network. RBS WorldPay noticed suspicious activity and reported it to authorities. According to a statement from the Justice Department, each of these men faces what amounts to a lifetime sentence for various counts of fraud and identity theft. Some could be given heavy fines, too.

They might not be totally dumb criminals (They did beat the encryption system.), but didn't they consider spacing out the withdrawals? Even if it is worldwide, that's a lot of money for a mere 12-hour period. [From: Threat Post and U.S. Justice Department]

Cameras, Web

Web Game Rewards Voyeurs for Monitoring Real Security Cameras

In what he says is an effort to combat petty crime, a British businessman is asking wannabe spies to take part in a revolutionary Internet game. Next month, Tony Morgan will launch the crime-fighting service Internet Eyes, which will allow regular citizens to watch for criminal activity through closed-circuit television cameras (CCTVs) installed in businesses around town.

According to The Daily Mail, if someone spots something questionable, he or she will simply click a button on the Web site, alerting the business owner via text message. Then, the owner will be able to decide whether or not there's enough evidence to report the activity. Players are awarded points for correctly identifying a crime and deducted points for incorrectly reporting one. At the end of the month, the player with the most points will receive a cash prize. It's free to spy play, but businesses will be charged around $31-per-week for each camera they list on the site.

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Computers

MobileMe Vigilante Uncovers More About Computer Thief's Identity


A few days ago, we reported the story of a man who used Apple's MobileMe program, which allows users to sync several computers, to spy on a person using his stolen Macbook. Having stumbled upon that trespasser's online job application, the amateur sleuth, identified only as 'Jim,' was able to glean an IP address and other information, all of which he then sent to police. End of story, right? Not exactly.

After gaining access to this initial information, Jim synced to the stolen laptop once again. According to The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW), he discovered a JPEG on the desktop that, when opened, revealed the smiling face of the person Jim suspects to be the thief. Jim took the photo, which was taken with the computer's built-in camera, and forwarded it along to police. Until police recover the stolen computers (which should be real soon considering all the information they have), Jim told TUAW that he'll be sneaking in and erasing files that contain personal information.

If you ask us, the police should give Jim a medal for making their job so much easier. While they're at it, a shout-out is in order for Apple, too. With features like MobileMe, it might be easier to get away with stealing fine art than it is an Apple computer. So, if your Mac is stolen, don't fret, folks. With a little ingenuity and Apple's handy features, even you can crack the case. [From: The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)]

Cell Phones, iPhone

'Find My iPhone' Leads to Criminals' Arrest

When Colorado resident Dustin Simantob and his dad returned to their car after a three-day river trip, they found the windows busted out and their belongings, including two iPhones, stolen. While they reported the crime to the Mesa County Sheriff's Department, the 15-year-old boy decided to do some detective work of his own.

In an e-mailed account of his story, Simantob told Mashable that a new feature for the iPhone's OS 3.0 led to the recovery of his stuff and the arrest of the criminals. When he got home, Simantob used the much ballyhooed 'Find My iPhone' feature to pinpoint the exact address where his device was located. The feature, powered by MobileMe, also allows you to remotely display a custom message on the phone's home screen or to even erase all your personal information from the phone, but Simantob didn't have to resort to that. He called the police who, according to the boy, laughed when he read the address. Apparently, these petty thieves were well known in Mesa County. The police went over and recovered Simantob's iPhone, his wallet, his dad's iPhone, a GPS, and even some belongings taken from another car.

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Video Games

Burglar Sneaks Into GameStop but Leaves Empty-Handed

When it comes to stupid criminals, we've seen it all here at Switched. These would-be masterminds have been foiled by text messages, forgotten cell phones, and Google's Street View. While he hasn't been caught yet, another criminal has been bested by technology -- security cameras and a locked door.

According to WPXI.com, a man attempted to rob a Pittsburgh-area GameStop Tuesday by cutting a hole in the roof. Taking a cue from Solid Snake, the man crawled through the ceiling, navigating electrical wires and air ducts, and dropped down into the store. At that point, security cameras caught the man trying to open the front and back doors, both of which were locked. When he realized he would have to carry his loot back up through the ceiling, the man abandoned his grand plan. He pulled a large steel cabinet underneath the hole he had formed in the ceiling and climbed back out. Around 3 a.m., police arrived at the scene and used dogs to search for the man, but did not find him.

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Cell Phones

Lost Cell Phone Leads to Dumb Suspected Killer's Arrest

Some folks just can't do without their cell phones. You know them -- the ones whose phones are practically surgically attached to their bodies. In the case of Anthony Ramirez, maybe he should have left well enough alone.

On May 22nd, Ramirez, 23, left his phone while fleeing the scene of an attempted home burglary in Pinole, California. Instead of cutting his losses, Ramirez called the phone, which was discovered by officer Uri Nieves, according to The San Francisco Chronicle. The officer told Ramirez he was an average citizen who found the phone on the street and arranged an exchange at a local Boys and Girls club. To top it all off, Ramirez drove to the exchange in a stolen Nissan 350Z with a sawed-off .30-30. Ramirez wrecked the car and escaped after officers tried to block the car's path.

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Cameras

Digital Spycam Captures Cereal Thief

Digital Spycam Captures Cereal ThiefYou've heard of serial killers, but what about cereal thieves?

That was the very sort of criminal recently terrorizing employees of a company called The Marketing Store in Sydney, Australia, according to the Telegraph. The company's staff would return to work in the morning to find their breakfast goodies eaten, the staff shower used, and some other signs of trespass. To catch the culprit, they hid a motion-sensitive digital camera, which captured a few clear pictures of the man, who was later confronted by security and told to never return.

The unidentified thief was sneaking in through a ventilation shaft at about 4am, eating breakfast, washing up, and then leaving again. As he was only taking cereal and not any of the expensive computer equipment nearby, the company decided against pressing charges, but he was told to never enter again. The best part?

That hidden spy camera was tucked away (where else?) inside a box of cereal. [From: Telegraph.co.uk]

Web

Thief Busted Thanks to Facebook Message Blast


Al Chapman never saw a need for Facebook, until it helped to nab the thief who had robbed him. Now Chapman, owner of a moving company in Brunswick, Georgia, regularly checks the site from his cell phone. Who could blame him for the change of heart? When Chapman came home last week to find two of his work trucks looted, he contacted police while his wife hit Facebook. She sent a message out to friends in the neighborhood, explaining the robbery and asking if anyone had seen anything. The message went viral and soon a witness emerged; a neighbor had seen the theft and claimed to know where the perpetrator lived. Police tracked down the suspect and recovered the loot. You can see more details in the CNN video above.

Although this isn't the first time we've seen social networking used to track down stolen items, this story does showcase Facebook's uncanny ability to quickly disseminate information to a specific audience. It's nice to see a clear-cut example of Web 2.0 making people's lives a little better. [From: CNN]

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Audio/Video, TV

Burglars Break Into Restaurant, Steal HDTV, Leave Money / Food Behind

Not that we'd have any expert knowledge in the wide world of theft, but this just doesn't seem like the best way to go about snagging a new HDTV. At any rate, an undisclosed amount of thieves reportedly drove a truck (or large SUV... it was dark outside, okay?) into the front door of Los Tres Amigos restaurant in a small Pennsylvania town, broke the glass, ganked a 47-inch Insignia HDTV and "fled the scene." For starters, you'd risk prison for an Insignia? Really? Second, with LCD prices tanking like never before, don't you think you could've waited until Black Friday to get yourself a steal? Sigh.

[Image courtesy of Hotel Interactive]

GPS-Equipped Turtle Stumbles on Marijuana Farm

Though not quite as bad as toting the GPS module around with you, one particular marijuana farmer had to be mighty embarrassed / wondering what he ever did to deserve such bad luck when a GPS-equipped turtle meandered into his crop. As the story goes, a close friend of the police -- a box turtle with no fear of Big Brother -- just happened upon a pot stash on US park property. Clearly, Mr. Isiah Johnson (the culprit) was heavily stoned when choosing US land to farm his ganja, and now he's in custody until he's "extradited back DC to face drug charges." And you thought all you had to do was dodge those CCTV cameras... [From: WUSA9 via TechDigest]

Cell Phones

Grandmother Fends Off Intruder With a Cell Phone

Grandmother fends off intruder with cell phone
How's this for a 21st century update of an adage? "The cell phone is mightier than the Taser." No? Kinda lame? Yeah, you're probably right. But lame or not it's also apparently true. A grandmother in Speake, Alabama chased off an intruder Saturday night with nothing more than a cell phone. According to police reports, the man attempted to use a Taser on the nice old lady, and she even believes he may have succeeded. How she was still standing boggles our minds and leads us to believe he probably missed.

The incident took place at around 8 P.M. when the grandmother, with her granddaughter in the house, noticed her porch light wasn't working. She opened the door to see what had happened when a man tried to force his way in and the altercation took place. We're not sure exactly how she fended off her would be attacker with her mobile handset, be we're assuming she used it as a blunt object with which to bludgeon him.

From Decatur Daily

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Computers

Man Breaks Into Home to Print Counterfeit Money on Ink-jet Printer

Counterfeit 100-dollar bill
Thieves usually gather as many valuable goods as he/she can and get out the door as quickly as possible. Stopping to use the computer would be a big no-no. But, of course, we wouldn't be writing about this if someone didn't get caught.

Charles Nobles was taken in by police in Louisiana after breaking into a home and trying to use his victim's computer to print out counterfeit bills. Nobles broke into the home after parking his van in the woods behind the dwelling in broad daylight. Police received a call about a suspicious vehicle at 1:00pm and and immediately converged on the home, where Nobles was found printing American currency on the home owner's ink-jet printer. Nobles was arrested and is being charged with counterfeiting, unauthorized entry of an inhabited dwelling, and probation violation.

Even if Nobles had gotten away with breaking in and printing the cash, he would have been caught the moment he tried to spend his new-found fake wealth. We're sure he wasn't carrying special paper designed to feel like money around with him, and your average ink-jet sure isn't going to print a very convincing dollar.

From Fox News

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Car Tech, Green Tech

Thief Steals GPS Unit, Gets Busted When Police Hit 'Home' Button

Rowan Atkinson on Bike
Is it just us or are criminals getting dumber by the day? A man in Amityville, NY may have just created a new level of sheer delinquent disregard. The 33 year old suspect (no, he isn't Mr. Bean, but we like Mr. Bean) aroused police suspicion when he was seen riding down the street with arms full of goods. Of particular none was an unboxed GPS car navigation unit he was carrying while making his way down the street -- keep in mind he was doing this on his bike.

Police stopped and questioned him about the unit, to which he gave rather evasive answers. Finally one of the officers simply hit the "home" button on the GPS device which displayed a nearby address. The resident at the "home" indicated that it was his GPS unit, and the 33 year old cyclist was taken downtown.

From the New York Daily News

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Audio/Video, Cameras, Computers, Celebrities, Google, YouTube

Thieves Caught on Video, Posted to YouTube - Help the Store Owner Catch 'Em!


YouTube has provided us with many nights (and mornings) of endless entertainment and sometimes even a little education. But now YouTube is being leveraged as a tool to dole out justice by frustrated shop owner Bob Guertin, owner of Big Sticks Fine Cigars in Mesa, AZ.

Guertin's store was ripped off by a couple shameless thieves who hit during the early part of the day when the shop is quiet. One man distracted the stores employees while his accomplice snatched a pair of wrist watches valued at $2,000.

In most cases, that would be the end of the story. Petty theft is usually not a top priority for law enforcement, and the media aren't going to cover your average shoplifter. So Guertin got creative.

He posted the surveillance video of the robbery on YouTube, along with the thieves' license plate number, description, and an offer of $1,000 reward.

The two men's faces are clearly visible in the video, and if his stunt leads to the arrest of the thieves and the recovery of his merchandise, Guertin is convinced the YouTube tactic will catch on.

From AZ Central

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Audio/Video, Cameras, TV, YouTube

Teens Caught on Video Throwing Hot Sauce at Fast Food Worker


YouTube is filled with bad lip syncing, lousy pranks, and (now) police evidence. It seems it's become quite popular for folks to videotape themselves throwing liquid on drive-through workers while yelling "fire in the hole," and, of course, posting it on YouTube.

Well, it seems that the Pittsburgh Police Department isn't laughing. An employee at an area Subway was recently pelted in the eyes with a mix of Gatorade and hot sauce that burned his eyes. The surveillance footage has now been posted on YouTube and the authorities plan to find and charge the prankster with assault, disorderly conduct and harassment.

From WTAE TV 4

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