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Man Spoofs GPS To Fake Shop Visits For Profit, Gets Caught (nikkei.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the caught-red-handed dept.

AmiMoJo writes: A man in Japan used GPS spoofing to fake 2.7 million visits to shops in the Aeon Kyushu chain. Each visit rewarded him with two "WAON" points, with the total worth around 5.3 million yen ($45,000). The man used 45 laptops to continually spoof GPS readings and launch the Aeon Kyushu app, collecting two points each time.

55 of 97 comments (clear)

  1. So jail for violating an EULA? by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    So jail for violating an EULA?

    1. Re:So jail for violating an EULA? by Howitzer86 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I would think fraud, since he's certainly not entitled to that $45k.

    2. Re:So jail for violating an EULA? by Barny · · Score: 2

      Do I really have to say it? Slashdot has been running for, what, 20 years now, and you still haven't worked out you should RTFA before posting?

      "suspected misappropriation of electromagnetic records and use of the same." From google translate of the linked article.

      --
      ...
      /me sighs
    3. Re:So jail for violating an EULA? by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

      store gift cards? or limited gift cards but not real cash?

    4. Re:So jail for violating an EULA? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      RTFA? Why should I be first?

    5. Re:So jail for violating an EULA? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Coupons aren't money. If you look at any physical coupon, they state that their monetary value is less than 1/1000th of a cent or some ridiculously low amount (probably the amount the paper is worth to recycle). He was getting electronic coupons, which are worth absolutely no amount of money.

      The fault here lies with the idiots running Aeon Kyushu and whoever was responsible for creating their app. You'd have to be really fucking incompetent to not account for something like this.

      Aeon Kyushu should fire the person(s) responsible for creating the app and hire this man to take their place. He's obviously better qualified.

    6. Re:So jail for violating an EULA? by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 1

      Not automatically. That would depend on the terms of the contest.

      Although, TBH, I have a hard time imagining they did not include "actually visit the site" as one of their terms.

      But you never know until you read them.

    7. Re:So jail for violating an EULA? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Informative

      According to TFA the specific laws are misappropriation and misuse of electromagnetic records. Basically exploiting a flaw in a computer system that you should reasonably have known was not intended, similar to using an exploit to gain access to a system.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    8. Re:So jail for violating an EULA? by jpaine619 · · Score: 2
      What the fuck? Why do y'all have such a hard time with the concept of Fraud? It doesn't matter what the goddamn EULA says.. The man misrepresented the facts. His actions were deliberately designed to defraud the company of items of value. He claimed, by affirmation or implication, that he was visiting these stores. He wasn't.

      Fraud
       A false representation of a matter of fact—whether by words or by conduct, by false or misleading allegations, or by concealment of what should have been disclosed—that deceives and is intended to deceive another so that the individual will act upon it to her or his legal injury.

    9. Re:So jail for violating an EULA? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Define "visit the store". Did the TOS specifically say a "physical" visit? You might assume that, but how did the company choose (they chose) to measure when a visit took place? That's why contracts and TOS's are so damn long.

    10. Re:So jail for violating an EULA? by omnichad · · Score: 1

      You can go ahead and not define it as fraud until it is exchanged for goods or services. But it won't make a practical difference.

      But no, you don't blame the victims of fraud. It might or might not be poor design, but as you build a better system someone will always build a better hacker.

    11. Re:So jail for violating an EULA? by mysidia · · Score: 1

      The man misrepresented the facts.

      Not so clear.... MERELY lying does not constitute fraud.. there has to be an actual representation which the party Had a right to rely on. The man used a capability of his phone/computers to "Virtually" visit the approximate GPS location of stores without actually driving there in person --- he can make the argument that he represented nothing, or that information was given only to the app on his local phone.

      If the 3rd party software provider/developer took the GPS information and made a representation to the store that the man visited that store, then that would be an example of A representation that the party does not have the legal right to rely upon, therefore, not fraud --- the only thing the man would have suggested was visiting the approximate location of the store which was done virtually, but that was not a representation of visiting the store the man made to the company: that was something they concluded themselves or through a 3rd party

    12. Re:So jail for violating an EULA? by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 1
      It's definitely fraud, says so right there in the article:

      è...éZå®ç-'è...ãå®ç-'ã'èãã¦ãã

      Plain as day.

    13. Re:So jail for violating an EULA? by jpaine619 · · Score: 1

      Good luck with that line of arguments in the court room. I suspect the Japanese courts are going to be even less swayed by that logic.

      You're a lawyer aren't you?

    14. Re:So jail for violating an EULA? by mysidia · · Score: 1

      I suspect the Japanese courts are going to be even less swayed by that logic.

      The laws are different in Japan.
      He wasn't jailed for fraud... he was jailed for misappropriation of electromagnetic records --
      or in other words: basically, for exploiting a bug in software on his phone.

    15. Re:So jail for violating an EULA? by jpaine619 · · Score: 1

      Right... Would you argue that a shoplifter isn't guilty because the store didn't have adequate security, or because the items weren't chained to the shelves?

      Common sense.. The app was meant to be used by people visiting the store. Regardless of whether the Japanese system charged him with fraud or not, it is FRAUD.

      If you don't understand that, you're an a-hole.

    16. Re:So jail for violating an EULA? by mysidia · · Score: 1

      Would you argue that a shoplifter isn't guilty because the store didn't have adequate security

      An entirely different thing -- the items on their shelfs are the property of the store.
      You can only remove them with the intent to possess them if a store employee agrees that you can have them,
      otherwise it would be theft; generally when you go to check out and you are presented a receipt for the items after
      being given an amount to pay for them AND you submitted the payment.

      On the other hand, If you gave the cashier a coupon which tricks the register into prompting
      for an unintended amount to pay, for example $25 instead of $250, perhaps the coupon was
      legitimate but the barcode was wrong, and the cashier tells you
      that amount, which you pay instead, then the items are yours to take home, as soon as you
      are presented the receipt, And you stole nothing, since the employee of the store offered you
      that price and you paid then collected the proof of the sale.

    17. Re:So jail for violating an EULA? by jpaine619 · · Score: 1

      As I suspected. You're either a thief or you support thievery, but you don't have the balls to just outright steal something. Of course you stole. You used deceit to steal. You have some serious issues you need to work out. I'm not being glib; you aren't correct in the head.

      On the other hand, If you gave the cashier a coupon which tricks the register into prompting for an unintended amount to pay, ........... you stole nothing.....

      And once again, the courts disagree with your fucked up logic. Here in the US using a fake barcode, deliberately, is a crime and you will be convicted.

      This article is from about a year ago (https://www.opposingviews.com/category/woman-accused-swapping-barcodes-and-paying-less-electronics)

      A Florida woman has been arrested after police say she switched barcodes on items at Walmart, allowing her to pay $3.70 for electronics worth more than $1,800.

      Cheyenne Amber West, 25, was charged with felony grand theft and felony shoplifting, according to the TC Palm.

      You're a scumbag devoid of normal morals. I suspect you disagree and that's not unsurprising. Most sociopaths think they're normal. And yes, you fit the definition of a sociopath:

      Untruthfulness and insincerity
      Lack of remorse and shame
      Inadequately motivated antisocial behavior (stealing to eat is one thing, stealing just to steal is another)
      Pathologic egocentricity (you place yourself above the person you are stealing from on your scale of "worthiness".)

      One could also make the assumption your interpersonal relationships are shit or nonexistant. How can you empathize with a partner when you don't actually give a shit about anyone but yourself?

  2. This guy goes to jail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    but the assholes who spoof phone numbers keep cashing their checks.

  3. Huh? by grep+-v+'.*'+* · · Score: 3, Informative

    to fake 2.7 million visits to shops

    Really? Let's see: 365 days / year, 18 hours / day (he's got to stop for gas sometime), let's say 45 sites (45 laptops, and I'm ASS-U-ME-ing, and let's say they're all in a circle. (It's been done before.)

    Around in the US, I thought a "visit" lasted an hour. Since he's "going" to different store locations, this shouldn't be a problem. And 0 seconds at the store -- he drives up to the front door, the GPS reads his location, and drives off.
    For convenience sake, it always takes 10 minutes to reach the next store.

    It takes 10 * 45 = 450 minutes for a 45 store transit, or 7.5 hours. Say 7, so 3 complete rotations per day. That's 21 hours (a bit over my 18 hours / day, but he hits a lot of green lights. Or pedestrians, your choice.) That's 3x45 = 135 stores per day. In a year that's 49,000 store visits.

    So 2.7 Million visits would take 55 years. So a la Mythbusters: CONFIRMED. ;-) (Man, that's a cheap life. They oughta give him a free soda or something.)

    And so he really thought he could get away with it? A million visits (over multiple accounts, that's what the 45 computers were for. Yeah I know. But how much did THEY cost?) That's like the guys in Germany who were getting paid to produce solar power. It was fine, but they noticed one company producing it at night. Bright moon I guess.

    I've also heard of geniuses who go to WalMart (or wherever) buy thousands of dollars or merchandise and hand the clerk a million dollar bill. AND WANT THEIR CHANGE.

    --
    If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
    1. Re:Huh? by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 4, Funny

      I've also heard of geniuses who go to WalMart (or wherever) buy thousands of dollars or merchandise and hand the clerk a million dollar bill. AND WANT THEIR CHANGE.

      No, no, no.

      A group of counterfeiters had a problem with their printing press and it started print $18 bills. So they figured they'd go to the local Walmart and ask for change. The Walmart person said, "Sure, how do you want it? Three sixes or two nines?"

      I'll be here all week. Try the veal!

    2. Re:Huh? by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      That's like the guys in Germany who were getting paid to produce solar power. It was fine, but they noticed one company producing it at night.
      That was in Spain, not in Germany.

      I've also heard of geniuses who go to WalMart (or wherever) buy thousands of dollars or merchandise and hand the clerk a million dollar bill. AND WANT THEIR CHANGE.
      If that happened to me, I would take the bill, tell him I have to consult my manager and check if it is genuine, and run to my car ...
      Ah, well, the flaw is I usually come with my bicycle to work :(

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    3. Re:Huh? by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 3, Interesting

      There was a famous short story by Mark Twain, titled "The Million Pound Bank Note". It described a young man, the pawn of two wealthy men making a bet, that he could bit survive with only a million pound bank note. The key was for the young man to convince people that he was an eccentric wealthy man, rather than personally poor, and he was never forced to actually _deposit_ the bank note.

    4. Re:Huh? by hey! · · Score: 1

      This shows something I've observed many times over the years: stupid people can be cunning; or alternatively clever people can be idiots.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    5. Re:Huh? by magarity · · Score: 1

      No, no, no.

      A group of counterfeiters had a problem with their printing press and it started print $18 bills. So they figured they'd go to the local Walmart and ask for change. The Walmart person said, "Sure, how do you want it? Three sixes or two nines?"

      And then there was the guy who went to Walmart and tried to pay with a $2 bill. Got the cops called on him by the clueless employees.

    6. Re:Huh? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      And then there was the guy who went to Walmart and tried to pay with a $2 bill. Got the cops called on him by the clueless employees.

      This happened to me at McDonald's on Mission St. in Santa Cruz, except there were no cops involved, only a manager. Cashier was a FOB who'd never seen a $2 bill, and told me it was a fake. Manager knew what it was, though.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    7. Re:Huh? by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 1

      ...and then there's guys like Woz...

    8. Re:Huh? by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Ah, ha! That sounds funny!!

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    9. Re:Huh? by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 1

      It was, from my memories as a child. I also remember Mark Twain as having an appreciation of engineering, with his fascination with riverboats and the adventures of the Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

  4. Interesting 'charge' by duke_cheetah2003 · · Score: 1

    Takeshi Fukuoka preliminary police On November 12, police arrested Daigo Sugano (29), an unemployed worker in Hokkaido Ishikari-shi, Hanakawa Northern 2, 2, for suspected misappropriation of electromagnetic records and use of the same. Sugano admits charges.

    I'd like to see the actual law on Japanese books that makes this somehow an actual crime.

    So just so we're clear, he's being charged with misuse of a magnet, basically. WTF?

    1. Re:Interesting 'charge' by wagnerer · · Score: 1

      Nah, easy to just put the apparatus in a faraday cage. Probably needed to anyways since he had multiple devices going next to each other.

    2. Re:Interesting 'charge' by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 2

      The GPS spoofing was probably done entirely in software. I suspect the laptops were used to emulate mobile devices.

    3. Re:Interesting 'charge' by omnichad · · Score: 2

      And this has to be amateur level. Why 45 laptops instead of hundreds of VMs on a decent workstation/server hardware?

  5. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  6. STUPID STUPID STPUPID.... by fluffernutter · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think the penalty should go to the company with the stupid idea to give anyone anything worth money based solely on GPS data.

    --
    Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    1. Re:STUPID STUPID STPUPID.... by mikael · · Score: 1

      There used to be competitions to be in the most remote location and take a photograph of yourself. That was before the days of Photoshop, Gimp and other utilities. So people would go hill-climbing or sailing out in the ocean, or find some generic bit of sand dune and say they were in somewhere exotic. Much easier if you can just fake your GPS coordinate.

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    2. Re:STUPID STUPID STPUPID.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Ahh so this is how the moon landing came to be!

    3. Re:STUPID STUPID STPUPID.... by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      But that doesn't profit me directly, so not work my time to spoof it.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    4. Re:STUPID STUPID STPUPID.... by mysidia · · Score: 1

      Much easier if you can just fake your GPS coordinate.

      Probably mod the contest to require using a specific camera with a built-in GPS that digitally signs the photo stream, and the submitter needing to show the moderator some background info about the location and papers as supporting evidence proving that they went there.

  7. No, gross stupidity by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 1

    So jail for violating an EULA?

    No, for gross stupidity in attempting fraud. If he had stopped at a few thousand visits he might have got away with it but 2.7 million visits are clearly physically impossible and simply has to be fraud.

    1. Re:No, gross stupidity by Howitzer86 · · Score: 1

      If someone is smart enough to come up with an illegal scheme to make money, they're smart enough to come up with a legitimate one. So actually I agree: the stupidity is not in the spoofing itself, that's actually kind of impressive. Rather, it's the poor application of skill and effort that makes it stupid. He's like those investors that run ponzi schemes instead of actually investing. I'll never understand these people.

    2. Re:No, gross stupidity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Uh, no. There are many barriers to legally making money, mostly artificially imposed by the people at top to keep everyone else down. It's always easier to make money illegally.

    3. Re:No, gross stupidity by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 2

      If you invest other people's money, you actually have to make a profit to pay them out the return you promised. If you run a Ponzi scheme, you can promise double digit returns, and all you have to do is keep finding more suckers and use their money to pay out to earlier investors, before you take the lot and skip town. They require two completely different skills: investment savvy vs. being a charismatic salesman.

      How exactly would you propose making a quick legal $45.000 with GPS spoofing?

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    4. Re: No, gross stupidity by c6gunner · · Score: 3, Funny

      How exactly would you propose making a quick legal $45.000 with GPS spoofing?

      Market it to cheating husbands with suspicious wives.

  8. More stupid by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 1

    That might be a stupid idea but faking 2.7 million visits is even more stupid since it is physically impossible and obviously fraud. If he had faked a few thousand he might well have got away with it since it would have been a lot harder to prove that they were faked.

    1. Re:More stupid by fluffernutter · · Score: 2

      But how many people are doing this and simply not being as greedy? How can any one trust a business that leaves themselves open so willingly?

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
  9. $45K with 45 laptops? by mapkinase · · Score: 2

    He better be using them cheap laptops for less than $1000 a piece.

    --
    I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
    1. Re:$45K with 45 laptops? by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

      He better be using them cheap laptops for less than $1000 a piece.

      Well, that's not hard. A few minutes on Amazon and I could find laptops for a little over $100. Not very powerful laptops, granted, but he probably didn't need a lot of computing or graphics power to do this.

    2. Re:$45K with 45 laptops? by fph+il+quozientatore · · Score: 1

      Well, it's not like you have to consume the laptops to pull off this heist...

      --
      My first program:

      Hell Segmentation fault

    3. Re:$45K with 45 laptops? by omnichad · · Score: 1

      And yet if you're using junk like that you could get a dozen or more VMs per physical machine with something a little more powerful. Huge waste of money even if they weren't $1K each.

    4. Re:$45K with 45 laptops? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      And yet if you're using junk like that you could get a dozen or more VMs per physical machine with something a little more powerful. Huge waste of money even if they weren't $1K each.

      Maybe he got them for free, or nearly free. Lots of people have offered me free craptops, I've taken some but refused most. And I see low-end laptops and netbooks at flea markets for only a few bucks all the time. Most are probably stolen, but compliance with the law doesn't appear to have been a big priority for this guy.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    5. Re:$45K with 45 laptops? by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

      And yet if you're using junk like that you could get a dozen or more VMs per physical machine with something a little more powerful. Huge waste of money even if they weren't $1K each.

      Given that he was spoofing GPS, it's possible he might have needed them to be in 45 different locations while he was pulling this off. Bit difficult to do that with VMs.

    6. Re:$45K with 45 laptops? by omnichad · · Score: 1

      Spoofed through software is more likely. Something the Android SDK helps you do, in fact.

    7. Re:$45K with 45 laptops? by mapkinase · · Score: 1

      I agree. One of them was the same laptop he used to read Slashdot.

      --
      I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
  10. Re: Ad clicks and Ad Bars by c6gunner · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There were also those ad bars you could download and every 60 seconds they would display another ad an you would get a smaller amount like $.01 for each rotation.

    However it 7th grade again when I was at the height of my scheming ways I downloaded my account's ad bars on every computer in the school room and would show up early and run them on 50 computers roughly until everyone else showed up

    I was a few years older than you i think, but I did one better on this; ran packet capture software to figure out exactly what the ad bar was saying to the server, then wrote scripts to simulate it without having to show any ads. It meant I could leave them running 24/7 on whichever computers I liked without having to worry about whether anyone was using them. This came in even more useful later on when they started monitoring for mouse movement to make sure you were actually using the computer; the script could simulate those just as easily.

    I don't think they ever caught on. Cheques kept coming in right up until I lost interest due to the increasing complexity/security of the ad bar. I wasn't too worried about being caught anyway since, like you, I was a minor at the time.