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Note To Criminals — Don't Call Tech Support
Billosaur writes "Darwin Awards, here he comes: Ars Technica has up a story about a would-be identity thief who did himself in by calling tech support about printer drivers. Timothy Short must have thought he'd hit the mother-lode when he stole a PC and a Digimarc printer from the Missouri Department of Revenue, perhaps with dreams of cranking out thousands of fake ids. Problem: he could not unlock the computer he stole and without the necessary drivers, he couldn't use the printer. Ever resourceful, Short called Digimarc tech support a couple of days later (twice), which brought him to the attention of a Secret Service agent, who recognized his voice from a recording of the calls. Short now faces a $250,000 fine and up to 10 years in prison."
Why the Department of Revenue uses a laptop with sensitive information, making easier to stole than a desktop?
Inquiring minds want to know...
Slashdot ya no es que lo era!
...My current province of residence uses a standard Fargo ID printer to crank out Driver's Licenses. I happen to have a Fargo printer for my current workplace.
It would take NOTHING in terms of effort to crank out fake ID's - hell, the province in question (at least at this point) doesn't even use any fort of hologram or anything to secure the ID.
I mean, this guy is braindead for calling for tech support to use his stolen goods - but at least through his stupidity & security measures they caught him. If I was an ass, I could easily crank off what I wanted to without anyone being the wiser.
(Posted as AC, not because I do anything wrong, but I'd rather not have anyone realize the stupidity of this province & take advantage of it just out of my location in profile)
The Australian University of Newcastle Engineering Department once had a undergraduate lab of Sony NEWS BSD Unix workstations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_NEWS , possibly one of the first institutions in the country to roll out such a setup. As you may of guessed, the lab was soon broken into and several of the machines stolen.
About a week later, Sony Australia Support got a call.. from someone asking how they could install MSDOS onto the machines. The Rep handling the NEWS said they could courier and C.O.D replacement diskettes to the caller... got their address, and then said "Actually, could you do me a favour, and please return those stolen computers to the University of Newcastle..."
Reminds me a bit of former UK pop star Gary Glitter. His career ended in tatters after a PC World technician discovered child porn on his PC while repairing it. Easily the best example of why criminals shouldn't call tech support (especially when you keep incriminating evidence on your bloody computer...)
I write bullshit
Back in the day I came into possession of an ID that vaguely resembled me. It was worth more than gold to me.
One night at a club the bouncer scrutinized the ID and then asked me what my sign is. I had no idea. I memorized everything else on the ID but didn't think to figure out the astrological sign. His kung-fu was good.
I immediately countered with an exasperated "I'm an atheist, if I don't believe in god why would I believe in stars directing my fate?"
He had no answer to that and let me in.