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."

Comments

Re:Why ??

[stoolpigeon]

I'm guessing from your comment history that Spanish is your first language. You say you have an inquiring mind - so I hope you wont take offense if I point out that your question would have been better phrased this way - "Why would the Department of Revenue use a laptop with sensitive information, making it easier to steal than a desktop?"

My Spanish is extremely rudimentary. My French isn't much better. I certainly couldn't do as well as you have here, on a board that wasn't English. Just thought you might appreciate the tip.