💾 Archived View for gemini.spam.works › mirrors › textfiles › hacking › fbibust captured on 2021-12-04 at 18:04:22.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Addr: All North County "Hackers"
From: The Mongoose Wednesday, December 25, 1985
Subj: Recent FBI Raid 07:03:01 p.m. PST
Situation:
Chase Manhattan Bank has its computer located in Waltham, Massachuttes. We
will refer to the computer as the IDC (Interactive Data Corporation). IDC has
had unauthorized entries into their system, starting around January 1985. These
attempts continued, which were tying up phone lines, changing passwords, and
threats of destruction to the database. These forced IDC to have the FBI
investigate and set up a trap for the unauthorized calls. Narrowing it down,
they found that almost all of the calls were originated from Southern
California, mainly from North County. The FBI had AT&T put a trap the 1-800
line around the begining of July, 1985. They kept tract of calls going to the
system, getting the phone number of the caller, the time, date, and duration of
the call. Then the FBI checked IDC's records, and if the caller did not have an
account with IDC, they were committing a federal crime. Thus, the FBI raided 23
homes, all juviniles, except for one adult on te night of October 15, 1985 at
7:30 p.m. They said it was a breakup of a "major hacking ring".
Law:
Yes, it is a federal crime to call an unauthorized 1-800 number. If you have
any doubts, ask any DA. This law was passed in late 1984, stating that you can
not call an 1-800 number without verbal or written permission. You say, "They
are on T.V., magazines... They are free!" Not quite. You see, the people at
the other end pay for all the times you call, or they pay a basic flat rate a
month [pretty expensive]. T.V. and magazines publish 1-800 numbers because it
is an excellent sales gimmick. Wo would call to New York to order an egg
scrambler if you could go get one at K-Mart? The call itself would cost more
than the egg scrambler [literally], so the 1-800 number just saves you the money
for the long distance call. Sounds pretty stupid, eh?
There are no computer hacking laws in the entire American Law. Meaning, there
have not been any laws passed against hacking, etc. The reason people get
busted is by calling a numer, start fucking around, get the guy at the other end
pissed, he calls the FBI, they set up a trap, you get caught, get probation,
confiscation, and a federal record.
Involvement:
23 People; 22 juviniles, 1 adult [Yeah, I said if before]
All computer equipment, disks, paper, etc. were confiscated,
and "hackers" were questioned.
The adult called IDC from work, thus losing his job.
On December 19th and 20th, 11 people got their stuff back,
having the charges dropped.
At a "hacker get-to-gether", most of the people showed up
with their parents [except for the adult, he came with his
wife] and discussed what happened.
Some of the juviniles called 80-90 times a day, with access
into the entire system, and calls up to 7-7.5 hours long.
Some people called only once, and still got busted.
Of all of the people at the meeting, I did not know any
of them. Quite a few have heard of me, but them, ha! Never
heard of any of them. The FBI said they broke up a "hacking
RING" meaning all of us were in this together to destroy the
bank. Shit, what assholes! [IDC that is!]
AT&T:
Now, I don't care what you say, but if you think you know when you are being
traced, you don't know what the fuck you are talking about. I remember the
night I called, and nothing acted funny, I didn't get a bunch of inverse "@'s",
my phone picked up slowly, made a lot of static, clicked a lot; NOTHING! So, if
you still think that I am wrong, well, I'll tell you one thing, have you been
busted by the FBI for hacking? If you haven't, and have heard strange sounds on
the phone, then why aren't you in jail? All my computer friends [ha] say "Wow
man, the feds are tracing me!", I just call them fucking dumbshits, and tell
everyone in the entire school over the PA system that "JOHN DOE" doesn't know a
thing about computers, even though what he says or does in computer class, like
type "CATALOG" in .002 of a second.
Yes, my phone was tapped, too. They told me so. The phone worked like the
day I got it installed. You can't tell. It still works the same!
Finals:
You can see, I got my equipment back. I don't know if I am going to hack or
phreak as heavily as I did, but I am seriously considering the field of
programming. Maybe call a few local boards, but long-distance boards are OUT
for me. This MCI and SPRINT shit is gonna come down on someone, and I know it
will not be me. Yes, a 10 meg system was neat-o, but now, there are three 10
megs in my area, all the same wares, no big, the computer modem field is really
for the 13 year olds. If you are (were) a hacker that got busted before, watch
out!!! They are trying to set-up an "Adopt a Hacker" program for big companies
with computers. I hope I get to go and scope out Chase Manhattan's big IDC
computer. Good Luck!
If you want to try and squeeze more informaion out of me, [you can, there is
sooooooo much more to this case!] just give me a ring at "The Twilight Zone" at
619/433-4653. Leave me mail, or tell the sysop, Xeon Knight [Cool] to give you
a call, message, whatever.
Until Later,
The Mongoose
P.S. Yeah, there is a lot more details, Mr. Spire! I can't include all of
them, but if you have any more questions, please feel free to contact
me.
P.S.S. Please watch out! It can get very rough! Getting busted is NOT fun.
-Case Closed-
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_