Don’t do the crime if you are not prepared to do the time!

jailHave you ever heard of Albert Gonzalez? The chances are probably that you have not. However, he has now entered into infamy, having been convicted of the largest identity fraud scam in US history. You can get more details on him and the case using this link. In addition to having paid back $2.7M and offered up a condo, jewellery and cars as further restitution, he is now facing a jail sentence that could stretch to 25 years. They certainly wave a big stick in the US when it comes to internet fraud in the US.

The interesting thing in this case was that he was able to get his hands on the 130 million credit and debit cards relatively easily. It appears he used ‘wardriving’ as his preferred modus operandi to hack into the companies he targeted. Thereafter, he then used a sniffing program to grab the payment card details that were being used by the companies to transact with their customers.

What Albert Gonzalez brings into sharp focus is just how much money can be made from  internet crime and the sort of lifestyle it can afford to those who participate in it. It also does bring into sharp relief the downside of this activity; when you are caught you go to jail and for a long time.

January 4, 2010 | Filed Under Security 

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