Cyber crime is a fairly recent trend in the past
ten years since the emergence of the internet and information super-highway.
Just like crime in the physical world, internet crimes can range. Anything from
fraud, to scams, to illegal downloading. And just like the crime itself, the
criminals can be unbelievable in their unflinching audacity.
1) Guerilla Black
Hailing from Compton, Guerilla Black enjoyed a
successful rapping career since 2004. Despite releasing two studio albums and
four mix tapes, it seems this was not enough. In July of 2012, news broke that
Guerilla was arrested on a 22 count indictment that involved more than 27,000
stolen credit and debit card numbers and over $150,000 from those accounts.
2) Mafiaboy
The alias of Michael Demon Calce, Mafiaboy was
only 15 years old when he launched several D.O.S. attacks on major internet
sites such as Yahoo, Amazon, Dell, and CNN. He nicknamed it Project Rivolta. In
February 2000, major federal law institutions worked themselves into a panic.
Still in high school, he was the most wanted man for the FBI in cyberspace.
These days, Calce claims it was the unwitting mistake of an adolescent boy.
3) Dreamboard
In 2011, this members-only system was
permanently shut down and dismantled by the FBI with over 500 individuals under
surveillance and 72 major members indicted by the courts. Dreamboard was an
online child-pornography bulletin board that specialized in the sexual
exploitation of children 12 and under. Members to the pedophile site were
arrested all over the world, from Canada, to the U.S.A., to Kenya, and Hungary.
Only 13 of the original 72 major arrests have pleaded guilty and been
sentenced.
4) Lori Drew
Megan Meier was 13 years old. She walked
upstairs to her room and hung herself with a belt. A boy on the internet had
told her life would be better off without her. Only this guy did not exist, and
the online profile of this fictitious youth was created by the mother of
Meier's former best friend, Lori Drew. The indictment against the elder Drew
suggested this was revenge against Meier for spreading rumors about the Drew
daughter. Her guilty verdict of 2008 was overturned in 2009.
5) Dharun Ravi
Another suicide, this one of college student
Tyler Clementi when an intimate moment with his lover was recorded by his
roommates and broadcasted via webcam without his knowledge. Dharun Ravi, the
most sensational offender in this particular case, and his defense team tried
to argue that the broadcast was accidental and that Ravi bore no responsibility
in Clementi's death. In March 2012, Ravi was found guilty on all charges and
served 20 days of a 30 day jail sentence.
Author Bio:
Peter
Wendt is a writer from Austin, Texas. He relies on the Internet for his
occupation to thrive, and is extremely wary of criminals who abuse what the
Internet has to offer. For this reason, he only trusts secure networks like this wifi hotspot business provider.
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