Prison Inmate Emails His Own Release Instructions To the Prison

Bruce66423 writes: A fraudster used a mobile phone while inside a UK prison to email the prison a notice for him to be released. The prison staff then released him. The domain was registered in the name of the police officer investigating him, and its address was the court building. The inmate was in prison for fraud — he was originally convicted after calling several banks and getting them to send him upwards of £1.8 million.

Comments

Sounds like Prime Minister material

[smittyoneeach]

Amiright?

Re:Sounds like Prime Minister material

[Anonymous Coward]

IAWTP.

The bankers can't be the only ones with the free money. Free for them, costing us our futures.

This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[americanpossum]

Sounds like this guy is more clever than most of the constables and prison officials in the article. Perhaps MI5 should hire him for penetration testing instead of putting him in jail!

Re:This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[present_arms]

Sounds like this guy is more clever than most of the constables and prison officials in the article. Perhaps MI5 should hire him for penetration testing instead of putting him in jail!

That's the rest of the population then. Disclaimer, I am a Brit.

Re:This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[dotancohen]

Perhaps MI5 should hire him for penetration testing instead of putting him in jail!

I think that having inmates penetration test each other is common only in American jails.

Re:This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[pushing-robot]

Dotan, have you ever been in a Turkish prison?

Re: This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[Anonymous Coward]

Worth more relevance, have you??

Re:This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[hey!]

Well, in the end you have to ask "did he get away with it?". Or, given that he turned himself in later, "did he have some purpose in escaping that he fulfilled?"

Intelligence is a multi-dimensional phenomenon. It includes things like thinking through unintended consequences before acting that quite clever people are sometimes bad at.

Re: This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you like movies about Gladiators?

Re: This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[Barny]

You ever seen a grown man naked?

Re:This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[JoeCommodore]

Ive heard of this before...

http://www.bing.com/videos/wat...

Re:This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[rs79]

You don't hear about the ones that get away with it, they tend to report crimes they solve.

That's crimes you know about, some just aren't reported - ask any cop about babies in dumpsters and why these never show up in newspapers.

Re: This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[Anonymous Coward]

ever been kicked in the head with a metal boot?

Re:This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[Anonymous Coward]

At least this inmate orchestrated his own release unlike a prison in Quebec where an inmate was erroneously released by the prison staff. He later turned himself in just like the guy in the article. Coincidence?

Re: This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you like Gladiator movies Timmy?

Re:This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[dotancohen]

I've been to a Turkish spa. I think you're right, I've seen all I needed to see in the spa.

Re: This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[I'm New Around Here]

At least a few of us caught the quote.

Re:This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[Mashiki]

That's easy, because the media doesn't report it. If however, you head down to your local police department/service, you can request a crime log for the week, some places even have daily reports you can pick up. Which lists all arrested offenses, and minor calls(vandalism, theft under, non-violent domestics, etc) out. In many cases these are published to the media every day, and they decide what they're going to tell the public.

Re:This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[Anonymous Coward]

Where I live, babies in dumpsters do show up in newspapers.

Re: This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course, not. That was a stupid question, strike that one, Ted

Re:This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[Anonymous Coward]

Where I live, babies in newspapers show up in dumpsters. Because we have the decency to wrap them first.

Re: This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?

Re: This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[elgatozorbas]

Have you ever been in a cockpit before?

On a side note: security was a lot more relaxed those days...

Re: This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[maseo126]

#str8baller

Re:This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[camperdave]

Do you have a link the rest of the world can enjoy?

Re:This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[Anonymous Coward]

Unfortunately, I quit trying to shame my local paper into reporting the truth. A quick survey of 6 not so large, but not quite postage stamp size jurisdictions every week for a few months revealed daily victims of the knockout game in my city -- just outside of the city. While the city itself took the "Dr. Atkins of crime" approach and managed to come up with less than 1 of these per month (even with 12X the combined population of the border jurisdictions I surveyed).

The newspaper managed to feel such assaults, even one that KILLED its victim were not worth reporting unless (and sometimes even then) they were shamed into it by one of the major TV stations here.

There was no shaming these folks. The places I could reach and blog to never had the reach to have the impact I wanted. The paper simply ignored phoned in criticism, deleted comments, and got rid of their forums when a few people the right but ultimately ineffective tactic of using their own forums to report the contradictions between their lack of coverage and the truth.

Re: This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you like movies about gladiators?

Re:This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, in the end you have to ask "did he get away with it?". Or, given that he turned himself in later, "did he have some purpose in escaping that he fulfilled?"

Intelligence is a multi-dimensional phenomenon. It includes things like thinking through unintended consequences before acting that quite clever people are sometimes bad at.

the unintended consequences should be regarded as the "risk" part which should be minimized :) the amount of intelligence decides how far one
thinks ahead about these unforseen possibilities, hence my plan for taking over the world is no yet complete :p

Re: This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[Anonymous Coward]

Is that a euphemism for touching oneself?

Re:This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[JakeBurn]

We have a local paper that's free and has a list of reported crimes in the last 24 hours for the neighborhoods the paper covers. Pretty scary sometimes when you realize how many of your neighbors are victims/criminals on a daily basis.

Re: This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you like gladiator films?

CEO/accountant material

[Anonymous Coward]

Very clever and devious. He didn't hurt anybody, right? Victimless crime, right? The police should have known better, right?

Let him go!

He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

He won his freedoms and deserves them. Not to mention that defrauding banksters isn't the crime it is made out to be. Godspeed to the guy, let's hope he gets to spend his hard-stolen $1.8mil.

Re:He's good.

[GoddersUK]

Not to mention that defrauding banksters isn't the crime it is made out to be

Actually, even if you've managed to delude yourself into thinking that it's OK to steal from people you don't like, defrauding bankers hurts us all here. Here's why: 1) It costs the bank's customers through higher credit interest and lower debit interested 2) If the bank fails customers are likely to lose out (although most individual customers will have their deposits guaranteed by the state) 3) The state guarantees deposits of individual customers (up to a certain limit) so, if the state has to bail out those customers, we all pay.

Re:He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

a) he's not stealing from people, but from criminal organizations; b) you people with bank accounts are only hurt because you allowed the banksters to latch themselves onto you in ways that hurt you whether they win or lose, so it is your fail, not his.

Re:He's good.

[electrosoccertux]

Not to mention that defrauding banksters isn't the crime it is made out to be

Actually, even if you've managed to delude yourself into thinking that it's OK to steal from people you don't like, defrauding bankers hurts us all here. Here's why: 1) It costs the bank's customers through higher credit interest and lower debit interested 2) If the bank fails customers are likely to lose out (although most individual customers will have their deposits guaranteed by the state) 3) The state guarantees deposits of individual customers (up to a certain limit) so, if the state has to bail out those customers, we all pay.

banks don't fail over $1.8m if they weren't going to fail already.

The banks can't just raise rates to make up for it, either, then customers will go elsewhere. If anything this just encourages banks to operate with more efficiency.

Re:He's good.

[Shimbo]

This thread is all kind of moot, since the victims weren't banks anyway. He defrauded companies by claiming to from a bank.

Re:He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, that's what happens when you trust banksters. The bad karma gets you even if they don't.

Re:He's good.

[Bomarc]

"he was originally convicted after calling several banks and getting them to send him upwards of £1.8 million."

I want to know what you say to a bank to get them to release that kind (quantity) of money!

Re:He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

Incidentally, banks are for poor people.

Of course, that must be why they pay me under 2% on my savings but expect over 10% on loans.

Re:He's good.

[timmyf2371]

That's precisely his point. If you were a rich person, you would have access to investment vehicles with a larger return than 2%, and access to credit lines at lower rates.

Re:He's good.

[TheGratefulNet]

stuff like "hi, my name's romney." or "hi, my name is bush." or any other super rich person.

they really are different from the rest of us little people.

Re:He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

That's precisely his point. If you were a rich person, you would have access to investment vehicles with a larger return than 2%, and access to credit lines at lower rates.

There might be a correlation, the question is which way around it works. With access to higher gains and lower rates its easier to become rich in the first place...

Re: He's good.

[BlackHeron717]

You are so wrong it hurts. 1) interest rates are set by LIBOR and have already been proven to be chosen arbitrarily by bankers. 2) Banks are too big to fail, yes even in the UK, there is no chance of failure. 3) the country has access to fiat currency printing, meaning they will print as much as they need to cover any loss to insured deposits, also tieing into point number one, that interest rates are arbitrary in relation to actual banking.

Re:He's good.

[circletimessquare]

yeah, i despise the plutocracy, the abuse of our political system by corporations, how wall street and bankers are allowed to get away with terrible crimes, etc.

but a bank is a fucking completely normal institution we all need. it just needs to be heavily regulated to function fairly

to call all banks evil and and all bankers evil just makes you out to be a complete moron

good luck with not getting robbed once people find out you stuff your money in your mattress

Re:He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

criminal organizations are people, my friend.

Re: He's good.

[Hognoxious]

the country has access to fiat currency printing, meaning they will print as much as they need to cover any loss to insured deposits

... which will boost inflation and reduce the value of everyone's money.

Re:He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

That's all moot. He didn't defraud the banks, he posed as a bank representative and defrauded other businesses.

"Posing as staff from Barclays Bank, Lloyds Bank, and Santander he managed to persuade large organisations to give him vast sums of money. "

Re:He's good.

[Sarten-X]

Having worked in finance, I can assure you that pretty much everyone* has access to investment vehicles with a larger return than 2%. The problem is that those investments are significantly more risky than a bank, and losing the investment is unlikely to be catastrophic to someone with a large supply of other diversified assets, but it could be catastrophic to someone with only a weekly paycheck to fall back on.

The solution to that problem is to properly diversify your investments for safety. An investment adviser can help with that, but they'll charge a fee for their work, and many people feel (accurately or not) they can't afford that service. There are books and other resources to assist someone in wisely choosing their own investments, but that requires ambition, effort, and the admission that one is not naturally a financial expert. That last part seems to be the most difficult to come by.

* American, not already in excessive debt, with a stable income... some disclaimers apply, but the vast majority of the American population qualifies, not just those who fall under the "rich" label.

Re:He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

The attitude that financial institutions deserve to be ripped off is troubling. Every industry has bad players, but most institutions provide very necessary services to their customers. I work for a small local credit union. It is amazing how many people who stop paying their debts have the attitude that we can just write off the loss and there is no harm done. Unfortunately the losses caused by members who don't pay their debts are passed on to the other members in the form of higher interest rates and higher fees.

Re:He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

The 10% charged to people with poor credit history does not equal to a 10% profit for the bank. Once you adjust the yield for the number of loans charged off due to non-payment, this figure is more like 4%. Add in their overhead (salary, buildings, utilities, etc.) and the profit margins get very small.

Re:He's good.

[dala1]

The banks have insurance for this.

Re:He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

Only republicans though that wouldn't work with democrats.

Re:He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

Trollololololololololol!

Re:He's good.

[CrimsonAvenger]

Interesting that you'd pick those names. A quick google for wealth of US Presidents (adjusted for inflation), puts Bush at 15 (the elder) or 17 (the younger).

And this is as opposed to, say, John Kennedy (1), Lyndon Johnson (7), FDR (9), Clinton (10), who all have that peculiar D after their name.

And note that Obama is #21. Hardly poor by any definition of the term....

Note that I ignored the rest of the top 10 because they served far enough back that the Party they were part of had no real similarities to the current version of the Parties of the same name (once upon a time, the Republicans were the anti-slavery Party, not the Democrats, for instance).

Re: He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

Apparently the OP didn't RTFM. He didn't steal from banks. He posed as banks to steal from organizations.

Re:He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

So if you worked at a bank and got a call from someone claiming to be JFK, LBJ or FDR, you're thinking "this isn't a scam, he's really rich!"
I'll have to warn my bank not to hire you.

Re:He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

www.positivemoney.org

You don't understand where money comes from. 97% of the money in existence is 'bank money', created out of thin air by banks, every time they made a loan to a customer.

Re: He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

I think you are delusional, do you think you pay the rate the bank is funding itself when you get a mortgage or a credit card. Of course, the interest rates includes all costs such as employees salaries to manage the transactions and credit default risk. You are a simpleton if you don't get something as basic as businesses try to recoup their costs.

Re: He's good.

[frank_adrian314159]

... which will boost inflation and reduce the value of everyone's money.

which will boost inflation and reduce the value of everyone's money so little that you wouldn't even notice. FTFY. Rich people might have enough money affected that it might be a minor inconvenience to them, which is why they, their news organizations, and their useful idiots in politics think this needs to be such a worry for all of us.

Re: He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

You are an idiot, LIBOR is not the rate you pay on the mortgage it is usually indexed on the central bank rate. Also LIBOR was cheated down i.e. in the direction that will help borrowers because they were not cheating to pay lower interest but to avoid showing weakness during the funding crisis part of the last crisis. Idiotic morons like you who don't have a clue are the plague of this society. Moron !

Re: He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

They are idiotic morons who get manipulated like sheep and can't think for themselves. This is how you get in politics, you play on the 99% of dumbass idiots who can't figure shit by themselves.

Re: He's good.

[BlueTrin]

LIBOR is set by the LIBOR panel. The central bank is actually deciding of the central bank rate and this is not directly influenced by LIBOR. Banks will set the spread to charge you. What you said above in point 1) is quite wrong. As someone else pointed out, during the crisis the banks were manipulating LIBOR down not up. I think you should get a bit more information before to talk about stuff you do not understand.

Re: He's good.

[BlueTrin]

So what's your point ? Are you saying it is okay ? You are really weird and amoral.

Re: He's good.

[BlackHeron717]

In a fiat currency system no ones money is worth anything, there is nothing backing it.

Re:He's good.

[sjames]

There may exist a theoretical construct that is necessary and isn't itself criminal but I am not convinced that we have an actual example of such at this time.

Bank fraud is not a desirable thing but at the end of the day it's just crooks stealing from crooks currently.

Re: He's good.

[BlackHeron717]

You are trying to prove me wrong with incorrect information. Well done troll.

Re:He's good.

[sjames]

Poor people can't even open a bank account anymore.

Re: He's good.

[sjames]

You mean it will reduce the value of everyone's debt.

Re:He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

It's cute you think the Democrat party is anti-slavery.

Re:He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, how odd that he picked names of people who are still alive!

Re: He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm going to steal $5 from you. It's too little report but you'll be passed because that was your Starbucks for the day. Then I'm going to steal $6 from you. The $7. At what point does it become wrong and enough to be a crime? Oh wait... Even stealing 0.01 is a crime

Re:He's good.

[HiThere]

You can tell me that, but I have noticed that as soon as a particular good investment becomes available to those not "well connected", it stops being a decent investment. E.g., CDs and Treasury bond consistently produce less than the rate of inflation. Back when they were only available to a few they produced quite good rates of return. (And actually, for a few years after they were opened up they still beat inflation...but not for long.)

Re:He's good.

[Serge_Tomiko]

Banks don't lend deposits. Loans create deposits. You really don't understand banking at all. Start here.

https://www.youtube.com/playli...

Re:He's good.

[Grishnakh]

I don't think he's calling all banks everywhere evil, he's really talking about the big banks. They are evil: they wrecked the economy, then got paid for it with taxpayer dollars.

There are other banks that aren't so bad, but they're usually much smaller, confined to one state or local area usually. Credit unions are also usually pretty good.

But banks like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and worst of all HSBC are evil through-and-through.

As for regulation, that'd be nice, wouldn't it? Too bad we can't have that.

Re: He's good.

[dala1]

I was responding specifically to OP's claim that either the state or the customers would foot the bill. Not sure where it is you think I made a moral judgement.

Re: He's good.

[BlueTrin]

Ah I see what you mean, it is still wrong but in a different way ... You have to pay for insurance premium, if frauds increases the premium is higher. On pure expectations the premiums of insurance are higher than if you were bearing the cost, the insurance offsets risks by pooling risk together and charging a small premium.

Re: He's good.

[dala1]

Sure, there's insurance premiums. But those would be there regardless, and as you say, they will only go up if fraud in general trends higher. The impact of this particular case is negligible.

Re: He's good.

[BlueTrin]

Read and educate yourself, you are the one without facts here.

About why Barclays was pushing the submissions lower:

At the onset of the financial crisis in September 2007 with the collapse of Northern Rock, liquidity concerns drew public scrutiny towards Libor. Barclays manipulated Libor submissions to give a healthier picture of the bank's credit quality and its ability to raise funds. A lower submission would deflect concerns it had problems borrowing cash from the markets.

Source

About what index is used for variable mortgages (*hint* it is not LIBOR):

What is a Standard Variable Rate?

A Standard Variable Rate is (rather obviously) a type of variable rate – this means your payments can go up or down according to movements in interest rates. Unlike a tracker, a Standard Variable Rate (or SVR) does not track above the Bank of England Base Rate at a set percentage.

What is the Bank of England Rate

Changes are recommended by the Monetary Policy Committee and enacted by the Governor.

Link

The comment I replied to is just a random mix of poorly used facts to bash against banking without understanding and jumping from imprecise facts to incorrect conclusions.

Re:He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

#1 is already subject to decades if not centuries of manipulation. Stealing from the bankers would affect that so little except as a PR stunt to raise the vig on the little guy.

Re:He's good.

[Troed]

I can assure you that pretty much everyone* has access to investment vehicles with a larger return than 2%.

By definition it's not possible for everyone to be able to beat inflation.

Having worked in finance

Understandable. Daniel Kahneman has some amusing anecdotes who people who work in finance really don't seem to figure out what it is they're really doing.

 

Re: He's good.

[BlueTrin]

It is negligible because it is spread across a large number of people, the argument still stands that you pay for fraudsters.

Re: He's good.

[Cederic]

Oh look, a broken record.

Tell me, if my fiat currency isn't worth anything, how come I'm able to use it to acquire land, a house on that land, the contents of that house and a nice car that lets me travel to and from it?

Might not have value to you, but it's been pretty fucking useful to me.

Re:He's good.

[Cederic]

You don't understand modern finance. That website is full of shit.

If I credit your account with $10k as a loan, I'm not creating $10k I'm transferring $10k of my assets to you.

No money creation going on. Now shut the fuck up until you've learned basic double-entry bookkeeping.

Re:He's good.

[Cederic]

You really don't understand banking at all.

Neither, it would appear, do you.

I can't open a bank and magically create money to deposit into your account in the form of a loan. That money must come from somewhere - and does come from somewhere.

Shit, have you even heard of capital adequacy, and the regulations mandating it?

Re:He's good.

[SuricouRaven]

Not quite. There's a little trick, fractional reserve. The bank loans you $10k, you put it in the bank, they immediately loan $9500 of that to someone else, who puts it in the bank... Effectively the amount of currency in circulation can be vastly greater than the amount of currency that actually exists. Debt itsself becomes currency.

The big down-side to this is that it becomes possible, in theory, for the bank to run out of money and hundreds of thousands of people to lose everything they have through no fault of their own. But this is a very unlikely event - it shouldn't be even remotely possible unless the economy is pretty much ruined anyway. Besides, if it did, the government would have no choice but to bail the bank out.

Re:He's good.

[Cederic]

Debt itsself becomes currency.

But that's the point. They haven't created money, they're recognising the value of the asset.

Re: He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

OK

I'll take all your worthless fiat currency of your hands if you like. I accept personal checks and large sacks with dollar signs printed on them.

Re:He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

criminal organizations are people, my friend.

Until your criminal organization runs off with your wife....

Re:He's good.

[Sarten-X]

By definition it's not possible for everyone to be able to beat inflation.

Only for very wide definitions of "everyone", including VC investment, R&D, government subsidies, international trade, and every other economic influence, many of which are high-risk investments that effectively dump most of their money into lower-risk investment vehicles.

I'm not suggesting that if everyone invested in a widely-diversified portfolio, they'd be rich. That's ridiculous, since that's exactly what banks do with their abysmally low-return (but very safe) accounts.

I'm saying that if someone wants to invest and have a good chance of a good return rate, they have access to such things.

Understandable. Daniel Kahneman has some amusing anecdotes who people who work in finance really don't seem to figure out what it is they're really doing.

Well, that's nice, but beyond a thinly-veiled insult, do you have a point?

Re:He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, pretending to be a dead guy might raise some flags...

Re:He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

Get I-bonds, then. Guaranteed to tie or beat inflation, 0 risk. If all you want is for your money to be worth the same a year from now that it's worth now, that's what to get. Only problem is you can only buy so many a year.

Re:He's good.

[linuxrocks123]

(once upon a time, the Republicans were the anti-slavery Party, not the Democrats, for instance)

Both major parties in the US are anti-slavery today, as well as most minor parties.

Re:He's good.

[Troed]

Yes. My point is that for someone to beat inflation someone else mustn't.

It's that simple.

Re:He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes. The banks fail it.

Re:He's good.

[Cthulhu's Physicist]

"Understandable. Daniel Kahneman has some amusing anecdotes who people who work in finance really don't seem to figure out what it is they're really doing."

Daniel Kahneman is highly suspect, he's friends with Nassim Taleb https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Re: He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

I have money that I keep stuffed in a mattress. I don't buy ANYTHING on credit (even my house). When I lend, I charge interest. Explain to me why I need a bank.

Re:He's good.

[Troed]

Sounds reasonable. No one who's understood the message in either Taleb's "Black Swan" or Kahneman's "Thinking Fast and Slow" would support the scam that is the financial markets.

Re:He's good.

[bingoUV]

No, it is not only not that simple, but it is plain wrong. Productivity improvements using, say, technology, can help a vast majority of people beat inflation, sometimes even everyone.

For someone to get market beating returns, someone else mustn't. But don't conflate market beating with inflation.

Re:He's good.

[Troed]

Thought experiment: Everyone beats inflation. That causes inflation.

Re:He's good.

[bingoUV]

Beating inflation doesn't cause inflation.

Re:He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

By definition it's not possible for everyone to be able to beat inflation.

surely you mean everyone can't beat economic growth. everyone can beat inflation at the same time theoretically.

Re:He's good.

[stealth_finger]

Not to mention that defrauding banksters isn't the crime it is made out to be

Actually, even if you've managed to delude yourself into thinking that it's OK to steal from people you don't like, defrauding bankers hurts us all here.

And that's ontop of the hurt from the bankers defrauding us all already. Fuck the banks. Their whole model is based on other peoples money. They use your money to make their money, don't share profits and pass losses onto you. Fuck the bankers, fuck them all.

Re: He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

You haven't acquired any land. At best you rent it and the terms of the lease are not in your favor. It can be taken from you according to the arbitrary decisions of dozens of different local, state, and federal bureaucrats.

Re:He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course it is possible. You can't all beat real economic growth, but clearly you can all beat inflation in the long run. What does beating inflation mean? Just that our paychecks or rent income grows faster than prices, i.e. that we become more wealthy than we were. Look bad a 100 years, and try to claim that the average wealth hasn't grown. We simply have started to produce more per capita.

It's easy to forget that production and consumption, not money defines the real economy. Inflation is fairly irrelevant if predictable on the timescale of human consumption i.e. the prices shouldn't fluctuate wildly in a month, but a steady 2% per month is no big deal. At such rates production and consumption aren't affected, and you just need to realize that a coin in March isn't the same value as that same coin in November.

Re:He's good.

[Anonymous Coward]

But that's the point. They haven't created money, they're recognising the value of the asset.

I know this is confusing, but there's more than one definition of money. What your thinking of is called M0 and isn't considered a useful number.

Talented

[Harry_Bawls]

That man should be in politics.

Did he roll out of the prison?

[Anonymous Coward]

With balls like this, he is probably unable to walk...

Re:Did he roll out of the prison?

[Anonymous Coward]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo8t9bY1P3Y

He watched Idiocracy

[nitehawk214]

"Hey, guys, let this dumbass out!"

Every day it seems more like a documentary. At least this time it wasn't Americans being the complete idiots.

Re:He watched Idiocracy

[ebvwfbw]

"Hey, guys, let this dumbass out!"

Every day it seems more like a documentary. At least this time it wasn't Americans being the complete idiots.

Coming soon. When Obama leaves I'm sure he'll empty the prisons again just like Bill did his last few days. I'm sure he'll release the worst of the worst. Just like he released 5 worst of the worst for a deserter. A guy we should hang, hang 'em high! At least 13 people died looking for him.

It happens...

[JonWan]

The place I worked as a guard had this happen. We held inmates from a bunch of counties in several states. One of the PDs fax machine broke and they would go across the street to Kinkos and fax release orders on their letterhead. After a while they would just use paper without the letterhead. An inmates wife simply faxed an improvised release form and we sent her husband home. He got cought when he arrived because the PD had no release on file. Everything changed after that, a phone call was required with proper ID.

Re:It happens...

[TWX]

I had to go through jury selection a few months back for a capital case, going through three or four rounds of appearances and interviews. Part of what struck me about the experience is how incredibly poor the paperwork was. They gave us number cards when there were 250+ people to go through in my group, they were all handwritten even though the numbers corresponded with the computer-generated numbers we were assigned when the original mailing for service was sent. Forms and questionnaires looked like they were generated in Clarisworks by first-time users in elementary school. Nothing had letterhead, nothing had any sort of official feel.

Your story about no letterhead and using fax machines is totally believable to me, and I'm amazed that it isn't abused more often.

Re:It happens...

[Anonymous Coward]

And, as a guard, you never thought, well this is fucking stupid ??

Re:It happens...

[Anonymous Coward]

I had to go through jury selection a few months back[...]

Are you sure it was for jury duty, and not for some scam to trick you into buying something, or investing stupidly?

Re:It happens...

[causality]

And, as a guard, you never thought, well this is fucking stupid ??

Have you ever tried to reason with a PHB? Especially when your argument, however correct and well-supported, doesn't come from someone who has that specific responsibility?

Re:It happens...

[wisnoskij]

Ya, because letterhead if a foolproof security measure.

Re:It happens...

[Etherwalk]

I had to go through jury selection a few months back for a capital case, going through three or four rounds of appearances and interviews. Part of what struck me about the experience is how incredibly poor the paperwork was. They gave us number cards when there were 250+ people to go through in my group, they were all handwritten even though the numbers corresponded with the computer-generated numbers we were assigned when the original mailing for service was sent. Forms and questionnaires looked like they were generated in Clarisworks by first-time users in elementary school. Nothing had letterhead, nothing had any sort of official feel.

  Your story about no letterhead and using fax machines is totally believable to me, and I'm amazed that it isn't abused more often.

Courts have no money for electronic upgrades, and when they have the money they have to fight a bureaucracy to get them. Seattle is still using DOS-based systems.

Re:It happens...

[RyoShin]

I have a history of depression, and there's a common survey that medical offices use to get a rough feel for a person's depression and/or anxiety level. In fact, it is so common that in the four states I have filled out the survey, I'm pretty sure that every single one was a generational photocopy of the same document. In many cases it has a slight "right" lean and offset that is recognizable; in others there's a "blur" along the left side, as though it was copied with a stack of papers on top of it or from a book.

The same thing happened in the military with "official" forms that were readily (and sloppily) photocopied.

Not that a letterhead should be what makes something legitimate, but when I'm paying a few hundred for a 15 minute visitation it would be nice if the photocopies looked decent...

What!?!?

[nbob221]

How could he even do that?

Re:What!?!?

[I'm New Around Here]

Easy, he used a British accent. We always believe anything someone says if they have a British accent. The hard part was getting that accent into the email.

Re:What!?!?

[dave420]

That's why we use lots of Us and spell things without Zs. It's all part of the ploy. I've said too much.

somebody get this man a job.

[Anonymous Coward]

he's obviously talented

Re:somebody get this man a job.

[BarbaraHudson]

he's obviously talented

He's obviously stupid! Otherwise, he would have cut and run after getting the initial 1.8 million pounds.

I think I'm in the wrong line...

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm supposed to be getting OUT of prison... that guy sat on my face and everything..

Re:I think I'm in the wrong line...

[The Grim Reefer]

I'm supposed to be getting OUT of prison... that guy sat on my face and everything..

You're in the wrong line dumb ass.

A for Effort

[JimSadler]

I know the actions were criminal but I sort of admire the guy. It makes me wonder about human nature and it did take a lot of talent to do what he did. Somebody will make a movie out of this and we will hear from this guy again. With his talents he just has to keep on doing this stuff.

Re:A for Effort

[argee]

Is Leonardo DiCaprio going to have the leading role ?

Re:He should run for political office

[Xenx]

Why? Because he'd know how to use email?

You are wrong

[Anonymous Coward]

Some people who run banks have committed crimes and gotten away with them. That does not make banks "criminal organizations," equivalent to drug mafias. Also, stealing from a bank has harmful consequences to plenty of innocent people which stealing from a drug cartel does not.

Your rationalization of "well if you get hurt when I steal from them that is your fault and I am innocent" only applies to actual criminal organizations, not to ones that you have personally decided to label "criminal" even though they are not.

What you propose is both illegal and morally wrong, and you can't weasel out of that with your bullshit semantic game.

Re:You are wrong

[Anonymous Coward]

On the contrary, it is the bank institutions that are the problem, not the individuals that work for them.

Why is a mobster a mobster? Because she believes she is above and beyond the law, by using either violence or criminally obtained money as a lever of influence. How is a bankster like a mobster? Well, she uses other people's money as a lever of influence.

How is a bankster worse than a mobster? Well, she has managed to manipulate the system on such a broad scale, that her usage of other people's money as a lever of influence is now legal and, in the perceptions of the sore losers like yourself, moral. Not only that, she has shifted practically all responsibility from herself and her organization onto those same losers, that is, you.

Keep telling me how this is highly moral and peachy ;)

Re:You are wrong

[Anonymous Coward]

Its the 99% of bad banks that give the other 1% a bad reputation.

Re:You are wrong

[frank_adrian314159]

Keep telling me how this is highly moral and peachy ;)

Well, moral I don't know about, but it seems just peachy for the bankers, doesn't it?

Re:You are wrong

[Grishnakh]

That does not make banks "criminal organizations," equivalent to drug mafias.

Complete bullshit; this is a lie.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

HSBC has been laundering money for drug cartels for quite a while now, and nothing's been done about it, and no one is prosecuting them. Money laundering IS a crime, so this by definition makes this bank a criminal organization.

You are a liar.

Re:You are wrong

[man bear nerd]

how is convincing banks to send u money stealing the bank managers should go to prison for being as thick as clotted cream, that's been left out by some clot, and now the clots are so clotted, you couldn't unclot them with an electric de-clotter,

Re: You are wrong

[Anonymous Coward]

Is that you Rowen?

Re:You are wrong

[linuxrocks123]

Why is a mobster a mobster? Because she believes she is above and beyond the law...

Dude, not all mobsters are female. Use "he" or (cringe) "they".

Re:You are wrong

[Anonymous Coward]

I would, but that would be sexist.

Re:You are wrong

[linuxrocks123]

I'm sure most women wouldn't object to not being called mobsters, but if you're really concerned about it, use they and get the number agreement wrong. Using "she" is just distracting.

Also, it's not sexist. Defaulting to one gender, usually male, is how most languages deal with the issue. It's just understood that the gender is indeterminate. For instance, Spanish uses "ellos" for a group of mixed gender people, while "ellas" is referred to a group of only women. No one gets confused by this.

Re:You are wrong

[Anonymous Coward]

It's quite obvious that the usage of "she" is meant to be gender neutral, not specifically for the female gender.

Re:You are wrong

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not calling women mobsters, I'm leveling the pronoun usage playing field, while working hard to avoid any accusations of sexism.

Re:You are wrong

[linuxrocks123]

lol. Why bother avoiding accusations of sexism? You're an anonymous coward on Slashdot. What are you afraid they're going to do to you?

Anyway, the right way to treat people who are too easily offended is to brush them off, not acquiesce to their neurosis. If enough people call them on their bullshit, they'll grow a thicker skin and stop being so easily offended, and that's better for everyone in the long run.

Re:You are wrong

[Anonymous Coward]

Speaking of thick: dude went to jail for fraud, not 'stealing'.

Re:You are wrong

[Anonymous Coward]

That does not make banks "criminal organizations," equivalent to drug mafias.

How do you explain HSBC laundering all that drug money then?

Re:You are wrong

[stealth_finger]

I'm not calling women mobsters, I'm leveling the pronoun usage playing field, while working hard to avoid any accusations of sexism.

Well then you shouldn't have picked a sex and just gone with they.

Re:You are wrong

[Anonymous Coward]

What about banks that launder money for literal drug mafia's for years?

Kicking themselves

[CanadianMacFan]

I bet those guys in Quebec are kicking themselves. Here they went to all of the trouble to get a helicopter to break them out of jail and all they had to do is send an email!

Don't jump to conclusions so fast

[bussdriver]

You only know because they caught the man; in the USA the guy would still be free and nobody would be the wiser.

If somebody noticed anything fishy the usual lazy excuse of "It's not my job" would prevent actions from being taken; unless, you can be fired or sued few people here lift a finger.... and if you do take selfless initiative you are equally at risk of being fired or sued.

Re:Don't jump to conclusions so fast

[Anonymous Coward]

You only know because they caught the man; in the USA the guy would still be free and nobody would be the wiser.

That doesn't make sense. The usual American way of doing things is letting him calmly walk away, yell "Stop grabbing my gun!" then proceed to shoot him in the back while claiming self-defense.

Re:Don't jump to conclusions so fast

[nospam007]

"You only know because they caught the man;"

It came out because his lawyers came to see him unannounced.
Perhaps he would have been back from his 'mission' undetected otherwise, with a similar trick.

Free

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

"I should have known when the instructions told me to give him £50 out of my wallet, too."

They get phones?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why do inmates have phones? Inmates should not have phones or computers, they should not be connected to the outside world.

Re: They get phones?

[Anonymous Coward]

No rtfa

Broken system

[Anonymous Coward]

To think that someone can do that with just access to email... Tells me more about whats wrong with system that accepts emailed release orders instead secured channels required to do so...

Re:Broken system

[rubycodez]

You mean like traditional signed release orders written on paper? No chance of forgery there...

Monty Python - crucifixion

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow. The British penal system really is like that Monty Python sketch...the inmates get to call their sentence "Crucifixion?"..."No, freedom really. They said I hadn't done anything so I could go free and live on an island somewhere."...

I heard he called slashdot...

[Ecuador]

and convinced them to drop the Beta. This guy is good.

Re:I heard he called slashdot...

[Anonymous Coward]

> and convinced them to drop the Beta. This guy is good.

He's actually working for Dice. He did convince them to drop Beta in the way Coca Cola dropped New Coke but Classic Coke was not the same recipe as orginal Coke, so too is the classic slashdot not really the same as the original slashdot. But this guy socially engineered y'all into not event noticing...

No

[Anonymous Coward]

A mobster is not a mobster for believing she is above the law. A mobster is a mobster for running a mob, which is an organization that breaks the law (and uses violence) as a routine part of their business. Banks do not do this...their routine business is perfectly legal. Therefore banks are not mobs, and those who run banks are not mobsters.

One who believes one's self to be above the law, but still acts within the law's boundaries, is neither a mobster nor a criminal.
One who does break the law is a criminal, but that does not automatically make that person's business criminal. The business itself is criminal only when its routine operations are criminal...not when individual employees independently break the law.

Of course, the laws may be bad laws. And the special exemptions given to banks and the wealthy people who run them might be evil and harmful. But that doesn't make them criminal. If you don't like the laws, you should do what you can to change them.

And it is ok for you to refuse to participate as much as you can. But once you start breaking the law yourself, you are walking on a very fine line. Breaking a truly unjust law is noble, but breaking a maybe-unjust-maybe-not law, and harming innocent people by doing it, is not noble.

Re: No

[Anonymous Coward]

How the post you replied to got modded up is how idiotic politicians get elected by just accusing bankers of being banksters.

Re: No

[Anonymous Coward]

The poor banksters. Everyone abuses them. Politicians step on them to get elected.

I don't know what to do to help them! Here, take my money. And don't cry, a better day will come, for sure...

I know what I'll do. I'll enter Politics and help the poor banksters with special laws. But how? It's expensive to get elected. What, banksters? You have money? Lots of it? Yay, I'm gonna be elected!

Re:No

[Anonymous Coward]

The business of banking is based upon fraud. Every loan they make is based upon fraud. It may be legal but that is only due to corruption of the legislature.

Re:No

[Anonymous Coward]

Umm... forcing people out of their homes is violence. Even when it is done by the police.
Who arranges the garnishments and seizure of wages?
So who instigated that violence?

The banks/credit companies...

A mob by any other name is still a mob...

The only difference is the amount of paperwork involved, and how many people approve of it.

Remember 'Catch me if you can?'

[Bruce66423]

In that case the FBI did have the imagination to hire the perp. One can only hope someone in the UK's security services does have a similar attitude - though he does deserve a few months inside to discourage him from a repeat.

Re:Remember 'Catch me if you can?'

[Anonymous Coward]

Or the UK can just stop hiring idiots for important positions.

Oh wait, that's asking WAY too much, look at who is in line to be Queen next.

Re:Remember 'Catch me if you can?'

[I'm New Around Here]

You don't think Charles will make a good Queen?

Re:Remember 'Catch me if you can?'

[stealth_finger]

You don't think Charles will make a good Queen?

For about the 3 years he'll be in the job before popping his own clogs. Then we get Billiam as queen and he will be a shit queen..

You know nothing.

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously, you don't know what you are talking about.

Go read "personal finance for dummies." Seriously, I am not being snarky, it is an excellent introduction to this subject matter and I recommend it to everyone I know. You, right now, have access to investment options that will pay anywhere from 5 - 15 percent returns. And there are even more options that you can work up to with a little effort.

Read the book. It will change your life.

Re: You know nothing.

[EdwardFurlong]

What gives 15%?

Re: You know nothing.

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's one, a medical mutual fund:

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot?FundId=0052&FundIntExt=INT

Average annual performance since inception 17.43%. For the past couple of years, it has been close to 30%. Save up $3000 to buy in.

Here is another, less aggressive real-estate mutual fund:

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot?FundId=0123&FundIntExt=INT

Performance since inception is at a humble 11%, but that is because "since inception" includes that enormous real estate crash from a while back. Recent numbers are in the 30% range.

Of course, in both cases, you have to come up with the $3000 to buy in. If you aren't on that level, you might need to make use of a 2% savings account until you have the cash to invest. There are also details about how to pay taxes on these things, and whether you want to stream the profits into a spendable account or reinvest....you can learn about all of that in one weekend of reading something like Mutual Funds for Dummies.

Knowledge is power.

Re: You know nothing.

[EdwardFurlong]

Past performance does not mean it will always get that high of a return. In the long run mutual funds almost never beat the market. Especially once you add in the fees.

so?

[Anonymous Coward]

You think that makes it okay? Insurance is expensive because of criminals like this, he stole from everyone.

Re:so?

[dala1]

Not sure where it is you think I made a moral judgement. I was responding specifically to OP's claim that either the state or the customers would foot the bill.

Re:so?

[linuxrocks123]

Yes, and the customers or state would still foot the bill, because the insurance premium raises the cost of doing business for all banks, making the interest rate spread offered to customers higher and a bank in trouble more likely to fail, due to the increased difficulty of making profits when the cost of business is higher.

Stealing from someone where insurance will cover it just means you're stealing from a lot of people instead of just one.

Year old story

[MrL0G1C]

IDK why BBC are reporting this now, it happened a year ago, summary also doesn't mention that he handed himself back in within a week of escaping.

Re:Year old story

[Bruce66423]

My guess is because it's just emerged in court probably at his trial. The article states he will be sentenced on 20th April, implying that the pre-sentence reports are now being prepared. Before now the prison service probably kept it quiet; and hopefully will have improved their procedures by now.

victim shaming

[Anonymous Coward]

> "The solution to that problem is to properly diversify your investments for safety. [...] There are books and other resources to assist someone in wisely choosing their own investments, but that requires ambition, effort, and the admission that one is not naturally a financial expert. "

So somebody who does not have enough spare income for a whole portfolio of investments lacks ambition? Or does he merely lack effort? or is it the third reason, his arrogant pride?

Re:victim shaming

[Sarten-X]

Let's assume that someone without "enough spare income for a whole portfolio" has the desire to invest, and the ambition and effort to do their own research. They'll find a whole class of funds and brokers that will pool several clients' investments into a single security purchase, and those brokers will often accept even a few dozen dollars' investment at a time. Most will also diversify investments appropriately, as well, as a part of their normal business.

Several investment vehicles have purchase minimums. The investment manager doesn't want to deal with the expense of managing accounts for thousands of small-scale clients. However, they'll often happily deal with a single broker purchasing on behalf of his own clients, as long as that broker manages all the busy work of distributing returns appropriately.

The brokers will take their cut from the returns, but it's still usually higher than a bank's low-risk-and-low-reward savings account.

Re:victim shaming

[Anonymous Coward]

You are justifying your sloth. One post on slashdot can't possibly give you the knowledge you need to maximize your wealth potential. But a few weeks of reading up on how money moves (such as financial books in the for dummies series, or in the complete idiots series, etc, all available for free at your public library) will.

Get the facts first, then come back to me and tell me people living in the first world lack opportunity.

Your ignorance keeps you poor. You can cure that for free. What in God's name are you waiting for?

Re:victim shaming

[Anonymous Coward]

Somebody who does not have enough spare income for a whole portfolio of investments does lack ambition. Investing is a plan and should always be done in a team of experts. The reason why people lack ambition to plan their finances with a team of experts is a matter of words - people don't know important it is to learn the basic language of financial literacy and financial planning. As a result people don't plan to spend their money in a way that people with a stronger financial education do.

Re:He should run for political office

[Anonymous Coward]

Probably could even set up his own server.

Re:He should run for political office

[Anonymous Coward]

Criminal record? check
Guilty of fraud? check
Took advantage of 'the little people'? check
Able to convince fools to help him? check

Sounds like a democrat to me.

Re:He should run for political office

[Anonymous Coward]

Rick Scott is a Democrat?

Huh.

Bad. Ass?

[adosch]

'Nuff said. Social Engineering FTW.

An Inspector Morse fan?

[Archtech]

Sounds like an imitation of the Inspector Morse episode "Masonic Mysteries", in which a criminal whom Morse has had imprisoned pulls a similar trick. And then the fun begins!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt06...

lub lub politicians

[Anonymous Coward]

So the politicians who give banksters their power are off the hook. Sucker!!!!!

Next time, don't blame the banks when the politicians borrow from them and give them the power.

you luv the criminals

[Anonymous Coward]

you luv the criminals because they are the corrupt politicians and you don't blame them. But you rail against banks.
The true criminals are off the hook per your opinion.

Sounds like

[FrozenGeek]

a process problem: either the process sucks or the prison staff are not following process.
Release notices by email? By email from an unofficial email address? By unencrypted, undigitally-signed email from an unofficial email address?

Hire him!

[gadget junkie]

Jeez, that' s talent, reminds me of the Italian forgerer who placed a 300 EUR bank note. But that was a bet, I reckon.

" my EURO bank notes are better than the official version!"
"so prove it, you clod!"

Re:He should run for political office

[Anonymous Coward]

Rick Scott was arrested, tried, and convicted for fraud? Wow, I never heard that. Thanks for enlightening us.

"One cross each"

[Pro-feet]

Coordinator: Crucifixion?
Mr. Cheeky: Er, no, freedom actually.
Coordinator: What?
Mr. Cheeky: Yeah, they said I hadn't done anything and I could go and live on an island somewhere.
Coordinator: Oh I say, that's very nice. Well, off you go then.
Mr. Cheeky: No, I'm just pulling your leg, it's crucifixion really.
Coordinator: [laughing] Oh yes, very good. Well...
Mr. Cheeky: Yes I know, out of the door, one cross each, line on the left.

Poetic

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm impressed.

Boner

[Anonymous Coward]

He must have gotten a boner over the US jail coding classes

If he was really good,..

[herbierobinson]

why did charge him with escape from custody? I.e., They must have been able to prove that he sent the e-mail.

Movie plot?

[ebvwfbw]

Seems to me they did this back in the 1970s in a movie. Don't remember which one. Used a letter in that case.

Silly prison system. They should use encryption and such. Just rot13 the note. No criminal would think of that. heh.

HSBC

[DarthVain]

http://www.businessinsider.com...

Heck they don't even follow what little regulation that does exist. The fines look large, but when compared to profits, the term "cost of doing business" comes to mind...