Date: Sun, 19 Apr 92 15:17:00 PDT
From: John F. McMullen (mcmullen@well.sf.ca.us)
Subject: File 9--Nationwide Web of Criminal Hackers Charged (NEWSBYTES)

Nationwide Web Of Computer Criminal Hackers Charged 4/20/92
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1992 APR 20 (NB) -- .According to a San
Diego Union-Tribune report, San Diego police have uncovered "an
electronic web of young computer hackers who use high-tech methods to
make fraudulent credit card charges and carry out other activities."

The Friday, April 17th story by Bruce V. Bigelow and Dwight C.
Daniels.  quotes San Diego police detective Dennis Sadler as saying
that this informal underground network has been trading information
"to further their political careers." He said that the hackers know
how to break how to break computer security codes, create credit card
accounts, and make fraudulent credit card purchases. Sadler estimated
that as many as 1,000 hard-core hackers across the United States have
shared this data although he said that it's unclear how many have
actually used the information to commit crimes.

Sadler added that he estimated that illegal charges to credit cards
could total millions of dollars.

While the police department did not release details to support the
allegations, saying that the investigation is continuing, Sadler did
say that cooperation from an "out-of-state hacker", picked up in San
Diego, provided important information to the police and the FBI.
Although police would not release the identity of this individual or
his present where abouts, information gather by Newsbytes from sources
within the hacker community identifies the so-called hacker as
"Multiplexer", a resident of Long Island, NY,  who, according to
sources, arrived in San Diego on a airline flight with passage
obtained by means of a fraudulent credit card purchase. The San Diego
police, apparently aware of his arrival, allegedly met him at the
airport and took him into custody. The same sources say that,
following his cooperation, Multiplexer was allowed to return to his
Long Island home.

The Union-Tribune article linked the San Diego investigation to recent
federal search and seizures in the New York, Philadelphia and Seattle
areas. Subjects of those searches have denied to Newsbytes any
knowledge of Multiplexer, illegal credit card usage or other illegal
activities alleged in the Union-Tribune story. Additionally, law
enforcement officials familiar with on-going investigations have been
unwilling to comment, citing possible future involvement with the San
Diego case.

The article also compared the present investigation to Operation Sun
Devil, a federal investigation into similar activities that resulted
in a massive search and seizure operation in May 1990. Although
individuals have been sentenced in Arizona and California on Sun Devil
related charges, civil liberties groups, such as the Computer
Professionals for Social Responsibility, have been critical about the
low number of criminal convictions resulting from such a large
operation.

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen//19920420)

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