MySpace: The Place for Extortion
Two idiots, angry that they were banned from MySpace, threatened to expose vulnerabilities on MySpace’s network that would allow anyone to steal personal information. Their price for silence? MySpace had to cough up 150 Grand.
So MySpace says, “Okay, your elite hacking skills have impressed me. You must fly to Los Angeles to collect your money.” The two idiot hacker wannabes boarded a plane and flew to LA to meet an FBI agent. Heh.
From the AP here:
2 teens charged with MySpace.com extortion
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two New York teenagers were in police custody Wednesday facing illegal computer access and attempted extortion charges after they allegedly threatened to shake down the popular Web site MySpace.com unless its operators paid them $150,000, prosecutors said.
Shaun Harrison, 18, and Saverio Mondelli, 19, of Suffolk County, N.Y. allegedly hacked into the social networking site and stole personal information from MySpace users.
After MySpace booted them from the site, the pair threatened to distribute a foolproof method for stealing information unless MySpace paid them $150,000, said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.
Mondelli and Harrison were arrested Friday when they traveled to Los Angeles to allegedly collect the payoff. Instead, they were taken into custody by undercover officers from the multi-agency electronic crimes task force who posed as MySpace employees.
They are now facing charges for felony computer tampering, extortion and attempted extortion. Lotsa Luck, Fellas. Really L33t H4x0rz don’t hack MySpace. Thanks to TechDirt for the tip.
