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Teens Accused of Duping AOL Users Sent Out E-mails Seeking Credit Card Numbers WICHITA, Kan. (APBnews.com) -- Teenagers have struck again from cyberspace, this time allegedly tricking some America Online users into giving up their credit card numbers, authorities said today. Two Wichita 15-year-olds were arrested this week for their alleged involvement in a scam that caused at least a dozen AOL users in six or more states to fork over sensitive personal information after they received an e-mail apparently from the online service. Related Stories: Man Accused of Spam Attack on AOL Customers Cops: Teens Scammed Credit Info From Net Users AOL Users Duped By Teens, Cops Say The e-mail, purported to be from "Steve Case" of the "AOL Billing Team," asked the victims to go to a Web site and update their user information. The requested information included providing a credit card number "that has not been used for any AOL services," the message read. Steve Case is AOL's president and chief executive officer. An AOL official said Case did not send the message and that the company never asks for users' passwords or credit card numbers. Suspects surprised Lt. Tom Spencer, commander of the financial crimes unit of the Wichita Police Department, said computers were seized from the surprised youths during searches conducted this week. The teens had been under surveillance for two months. "I don't think they had an inkling that they would get caught," he said. Spencer said the youths used several stolen credit card numbers to order Sega video games and other computer software and equipment. He speculated that the suspects may not have considered what they were doing was all that bad. "It's not like you're going out and breaking into a car and taking a purse and credit cards. You're just sitting at home," he said. "So you're distanced -- it doesn't feel like you're committing an actual crime." 'A network of people' Spencer said it is unknown whether the two sent the messages themselves or set up the Web site, but police suspect they had some help. "They've got a network of people in other places," Spencer told APBnews.com. "There's probably some more people out there we'd like to get our hands on if we could, but right now we're kind of stuck." The total amount of fraud allegedly committed by the teens has not yet been tallied, Spencer said, but it could add up to thousands of dollars. Packages delivered to homes During the two-month-long surveillance, investigators intercepted packages delivered to the teens' homes. Spencer declined to identify the teens because they are juveniles. He said they were arrested and released and could be charged formally in juvenile court in the next four to eight weeks once their computers are examined by a forensics technician. The district attorney's office could prosecute the two on felony charges for violating the state's computer crime statute and for unlawful use of a financial card, Spencer said. Users are warned AOL spokesman Rich D'Amato said such cons are not unheard of, because it's easy to find e-mail aliases and contact Internet users. The company has posted warnings that assures its online users that it would never ask for sensitive information such as credit card numbers and home addresses. "Our role in this is to make sure that members have information that they can go to that encourages them to use both common sense [and] a high level of scrutiny when it comes to invitations to provide that kind of information," he said. Cops try to keep up The Wichita case raises troubling issues for a police department that has seen a marked increase in computer crimes this year. Spencer said teenagers can pick up hacking skills and criminal know-how in Internet chat rooms, while law enforcement struggles to keep up with the lightning advance of technology and cybercrime. "We're behind a curve or two," he said. |
