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NOTICE: The word "Hacker" is used frequently throughout this file - it is
to be interperated as "a computer literate person", and NOT as
"someone who engages in illegal activities using a computer".
Friday, October 30, Pumpcon began, at the Courtyard of the Marriott, in
Greenburgh, NY. All in all, about 30 hackers showed up, and had a great time.
At least until the evening of Oct. 31st, when 8-10 members of the Greenburgh
police force showed up and raided the Con. At the time of the raid, there were
between 20 and 25 hackers in the hotel. 3 of the 4 rooms rented by Con
attendees were raided. All the occupants of these rooms were taken to a
conference room, and then another hotel room (255) where they were held
approximately 6-8 hours for questioning.
The police all came in unmarked police cars, and parked on all 4 sides of the
hotel. No one noticed they were there, until they were standing in the hall
where all 4 rooms were located. The officers stood in the hall outside the
doors, but did not enter the rooms right away. They waited about five
minutes, for some unknown reason, which was just enough time for them to be
noticed by the hackers in at least one of the rooms. Unfortunately, there was
no way the hackers in one room could warn the other rooms - the fone lines were
busy, and the cops in the hall kinda left the "walk down and tell 'em in
person"
option out.
The police produced copies of a search warrant to search rooms 246, 233, and
237. Room 246 was the one where everyone was hanging out; it was pretty much
THE room. It was where the computers were located, and where most of the Con
attendees were 99% of the time. The other two rooms were rented by attendees
of the con, and were simply used for sleeping quarters.
Before too long, the police entered the rooms, and began rounding up poeple.
My recollection of this time period is a bit faint, and I don't remember all
the minute details. All I know is that we all ended up in a conference room,
and then room 255.
A few hackers who had been out driving around during the time of the bust
returned a few hours later, and when they were seen by police, they were
immediately taken to 255 and questioned. (They were walking down the
hall, when a cop appeared, and told them to step into a room) The cops asked
them if they were hackers, and when they didn't answer, one police officer
reached into the coat pocket of one of the people, and produced an auto
dialer. This in itself was enough to send the three to room 255, where the
rest of the hackers were being held for questioning. My question to you -
isn't that just a bit illegal? Bodily search without probable cause OR a
warrant? Ooops - I'm forgetting - we're HACKERS! We're ALL BAD! We're
ALWAYS breaking the law. We don't have RIGHTS!
Room 255 was packed. No one was allowed to smoke, and everyone was nervous
as hell. One by one people were called to be interviewed, with some
interviews lasting 5 minutes, others lasting 30 or 45 minutes. Some people
were sleeping, others were conversing, and still others were shaking, and
looked like they were about to puke at any second. Even though the situation
was quite serious, a few joked around, saying things like "So guys, I guess
PumpCon '93 won't be held here, eh?".
No one knew who was going to be arrested, or when they would be released.
The 2 cops in the room with them were actually pretty cool, and answered any
questions they could to the best of their knowledge. They weren't the guys
in charge of the investigation; they were simply there to make sure we didn't
leave. Of course, as friendly as they seemed, they were still cops...
All the people who were detained were held until between 5:45 and 6:30am.
Four hackers were arrested, 1 because 2 of the rooms were registered in his
name, a second because he signed for the rooms, and the others for previous
crimes, apparently. No one knows as of yet. As of this message, no news
on what will become of those arrested is known. They have not yet been
arraigned. The other hackers were all searched, questioned, and then released
pending further investigation. Those under the age of 18 had their parents
notified.
To my knowledge, there were no federal investigators there at the time of the
bust. However, people kept mentioning the FBI and the Secret Service, and it
is very possible that they will be called in to investigate. Actually, it's
more than just possible, it's almost guaranteed. The police said that
although most of those detained were released, there will most likely be more
arrests in the near future, as more is learned about the alleged illegal
doings.
3 computers (2 Amigas, and 1 AT&T dumb term) were confiscated, along with
anything which looked like it could have been involved in phone fraud. For
some odd reason, although Auto Dialers were listed on the search warrant, not
all of them were confiscated. I acutally don't know if ANY were, I do know
that not ALL were. ;)
In one of the rooms, there were about 2 dozen computer magazines which were
apparently confiscated, although the warrant did not specify that magazines
could be taken. But, when you're busting HACKERS, I suppose you can take what
you want. After all, hackers are evil geniuses, and don't have the same rights
as NORMAL criminals do.
As of yet, the actual charges against the hackers are not known. The raid
apparently stemmed because the hackers were ALLEGEDLY using stolen calling card
numbers and/or access codes to obtain free phone calls. One of these card
numbers or codes was rummored to have tripped a flag at AT&T, which alerted
security personel that something was possibly wrong.
This assumption about the calling card fraud is made because the police
confiscated any calling card found during their searches, and some of the
questions they asked the detained centered entirely around calling card
theft and use. A few other questions asked me were "Do you know what
computer systems were accessed?", "Do you refer to each other with handles?",
"Who was primarily responsible for this meeting?", and "Where did you hear
about this meeting?"
My interview lasted only about 10 minutes, and it started at about 5:50am.
Everyone was dead tired, and the cops wanted to get everything over with
as fast as possible so they could get some sleep. After the interviews were
over, everyone left, to wait and see what the next few days will bring.
I am releasing this file now, to prevent any rumors from starting, and to try
to make the outside world aware of what happened during PumpCon. I have
left out any specific incidences and references to specific people as a
precaution, since the investigation is only beginning. We were hoping to
write
a file of all the attendees of PumpCon, to share with the world the names of
those who were there. However, as you can obviously see, that would be highly
stupid. For anyone who WAS there who is reading this, rest assured that the
running list of names which was kept made a very tasteless dinner for the one
who had it in his pocket.
Oh, BTW, one of the cops who was apparently in charge made a comment to me...
he said "You can post a message on the boards telling your friends to stay
out of Greenburgh". Well boys, you heard him - PumpCon '93 will be held in
Greenburgh, at the Courtyard Marriott....
*--------------*
The following is a word for word copy of the search warrant issued to each
person who was detained and questioned. No spelling errors were corrected,
but I probably made a few when I typed this in. Oh well.
TOWN of GREENBURGH POLICE DEPARTMENT
WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NEW YORK
ORDER OF SEARCH AND SEIZURE
-----
( signed here by Det. Hugh F. Gallagher #103)
----------------------------------------------
JUSTICE COURT, TOWN OF GREENBURGH
WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NEW YORK ORDER
-----
IN THE MATTER OF Room 233, 237, & 246 Westchester Marriott Courtyard
THE APPLICATION FOR AN ORDER OF SEARCH AND SEIZURE OF: (Specify)
Computers Disketts Computer Printers
Computer Terminals Auto Dialers Disketts
Calling Card Computer Systems & Wire
Computer Printouts Disk Drives
Modems Hand Written Notes About Credit Co.
" " " " Computer Service.
______________________________________________________________________X
IN THE NAME OF THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
TO: ANY POLICE OFFICER OF THE TOWN OF GREENBURGH POLICE DEPARTMENT
PROOF by affidavit having been made before me this day by Det.H.Gallagher #103
____________(Affiant) of the Town of Greenburgh Police Department that certain
property, which is (stolen/unlawfully possessed, used to commit an
offense...) and which constitutes evidence and tends to demonstrate that an
offense has been committed and that a particular person participated in the
commission of an offense will be found at the location captioned above.
YOU ARE THEREFORE COMMANDED,