675k Stolen Credit Cards = Ten Years In Jail

wiredmikey writes "A hacker who had been found with more than 675,000 stolen credit card numbers that reportedly led to losses totaling more than $36 million, was sentenced on Friday to 120 months in prison. After pleading guilty on April 21, 2011, Rogelio Hackett Jr., 25, of Lithonia, Georgia, was slapped with a maximum prison sentence and ordered to pay a $100,000 fine. According to court documents, U.S. Secret Service special agents executing a search warrant in 2009 at Hackett's home found more than 675,000 stolen credit card numbers and related information in his computers and email accounts. Hackett admitted in a court filing that since at least 2002, he has been trafficking in credit card information he obtained either by hacking into business computer networks and downloading credit card databases, or purchasing the information from others using the Internet through various carding forums."

Comments

Rogelio Hackett

[russ1337]

The Mr Hackett was destined to become a hacker...

....researchers have found that people named Dennis are more likely to become dentists. An article, “Why Susie Sells Seashells by the Seashore,” finds that in the U.S. population the names Jerry, Dennis, and Walter rank 39th, 40th, and 41st among male first names. But in the national directory of the American Dental Association there are close to twice as many Dennises (482) as Walters (252) and Jerrys (270). “Similarly, people whose names begin with ‘Geo’ (e.g., George, Geoffrey) are disproportionately likely to do research in the geosciences (e.g., geology).”

http://www.freakonomics.com/2009/04/24/yes-part-ii/

Re:Sounds about right.

[Anonymous Coward]

No fucking way. I'd say he deserves at least two years per $1M. Just kill him now.

You're likely a troll, but I'll bite anyway:

Really? This guy is playing the same game called Capitalism that everyone else is playing. Megacorporations, oil companies, banks, etc., get away with theft (and much worse) on scales that are orders of magnitude greater, affecting much more people and in more extreme ways.

They'll never spend a day in any kind of prison. With that in perspective, the sentence this guy is getting is unjustly harsh.

How does this sit with the RIAA sentances

[Fluffeh]

Given that 675,000 credit cards is a ten year prison sentence, I do wonder what the same sentence would have been if it was 675,000 tracks he downloaded - and if the two of these sentences are therefore proof that the law is tilted towards a specific type of industry?

sentencing guidelines

[NynexNinja]

The sentencing guidelines have been changed several times over the last 20-30 years regarding the penalties for this type of offence. In the 1980's or 1990's, had this guy been sentenced, he would likely be facing probation or at most a few months in jail, depending on his prior history. These days, they really throw the book at these people and the sentences are on par with murderers and other violent felonies. This man was born about 10 years too late, and was about 10 years older than he should have been when he committed these crimes. Also, I highly doubt the inflated numbers involved in the theft of the credit card data. The credit card companies have been known to dramatically inflate these losses, and then if you ask them for any sort of documentation proving any of it, the real numbers are somewhere around 1% of the original amount they specified. They probably claim this as a deduction on their taxes.