VPN Provider's No-Logging Claims Tested In FBI Case (torrentfreak.com)

An anonymous reader writes from an article published on TorrentFreak: [A] criminal complaint details the FBI's suspicions that 25-year-old Preston McWaters had conveyed "false or misleading information regarding an explosive device." The FBI started digging and in February 2016 two search warrants against Twitter and Facebook required them to turn over information on several accounts. Both did and the criminal complaint makes it clear that the FBI believes that McWaters was behind the accounts and the threats. With McWaters apparently leaving incriminating evidence all over the place (including CCTV at Walmart where he allegedly purchased a pre-paid Tracfone after arriving in his own car), the FBI turned to IP address evidence available elsewhere. "During the course of the investigation, subpoenas and search warrants have been directed to various companies in an attempt to identify the internet protocol (IP) address from where the email messages are being sent," the complaint reads. "All the responses from [email provider] 1&1, Facebook, Twitter, and Tracfone have been traced by IP address back to a company named London Trust Media [doing business as] PrivateInternetAccess.com. A subpoena was sent to London Trust Media and the only information they could provide is that the cluster of IP addresses being used was from the east coast of the United States," the FBI's complain reads. "However, London Trust did provide that they accept payment for their services through credit card with a vendor company of Stripe and/or Amazon. They also accept forms of payment online through PayPal, Bitpay, Bit Coin, Cash You, Ripple, Ok Pay, and Pay Garden."

While McWaters is yet to be found guilty, it's a sad fact that some people will use anonymizing services such as VPNs, pre-paid phones and anonymous email providers to harass others. And thankfully, as this case shows, they'll need to hide a lot more than their IP address to get away with that level of crime.

Comments

To be fair, the Feds seemed to be pretty thorough

[ShooterNeo]

I read the affidavit for a warrant for the guy's arrest.

To summarize : He used PIA, but bought 2 tracfones that he used to make harassing twitter posts. They have surveillance of someone looking like him at the register, his car leaving, bank withdrawals for the exact amount of money used to buy the phones in cash, and 3 separate sets of recordings. Walmart security(who seem to be pretty on the ball, surprisingly) even got a picture of his license plate when he visited a second time.

They also have the phones geolocated when they were used, they checked that he went to the closest walmart to his house, they found 2 chargers in his car for the phones, the username and password for a PIA account listed in his wallet, cell tower locations to his home and work...pretty solid.

I didn't see any of the gaps I normally see when I read about police investigations, it almost sounds like the Feds made sure they had the right man. Really, the only fault I have with the authorities is the hysterical response to bomb threats. Evacuating a building because some random made an anonymous threat? That's no way to run a railroad. Most of the damage he did was because the authorities fucked up.

Re:Subpeona to a London Company

[ShaunC]

London Trust Media is an Indiana corporation with mailing addresses in Los Angeles, CA and Grandville, MI.