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Carderprofit.cc Was FBI Carding Sting, Nets 26 Arrests
tsu doh nimh writes in with news of a major sting operation against carders. From the article: "The U.S. Justice Department today unveiled the results of a two-year international cybercrime sting that culminated in the arrest of 26 people accused of trafficking in hundreds of thousands of stolen credit and debit card accounts. Among those arrested was an alleged core member of 'UGNazi,' a malicious hacking group that has claimed responsibility for a flood of recent attacks on Internet businesses."
The trick: the FBI ran a carding forum as a honeypot.
A quick primer on entrapment:
If you are trolling Drug Dealer Drive for drugs and you happen to ask a undercover agent for drugs, you are guilty.
If a undercover agent posing as a drug dealer comes to you out of the blue and says that you need to buy his drugs so that he can help his sweet grandmother beat cancer, that's entrapment.
The difference is that in the first example, you were already out with the intention of doing something illegal. The second example you were approached by LEO and convinced to do something you normally wouldn't do.
IANAL and I'm sure each jurisdiction has it's own definition of entrapment but this is the jist.
We don't live in Shouldland.
Here's what entrapment is, as explained by a lawyer, in an appropriately visual format to appease the attention span of most Slashdotters.
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
Then it is not illegal.
It's called undercover police work, and undercover police work is perfectly legal, including the commission of various non-violent crimes required to maintain their cover.
The cops weren't out there having TVs shipped to their houses and not documenting them so the victims wouldn't be reimbursed. They were hosting a forum, and made it look like other similar on-line criminal hangouts. When real criminals arrived, they maintained the forum long enough to accumulate enough evidence (IDs of suspects, records of criminal activity), then rolled them up.
They did their jobs, successfully.
John
This is not automatically entrapment. The sting is just like a drugs for sale or prostitution on a street corner. Undercover cop wearing a wire and being videotaped by concealed police sits on stragetic street corner known to be hot with drugs or prostitution. The undercover cop is dressed to bait the individual seeking the drugs/services they believe the undercover is there to provide. When the individual atempts to solicit for purchase the drugs/services they are arrested for that crime.
It is only entrapment if the person is induced to commit a crime "he or she is not previously disposed to commit".
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/entrapment
An important and often argued point.
For every benefit you receive a tax is levied. - Ralph Waldo Emerson