Man Hires ‘Hacker’ Through Craigslist, Actually Hires Undercover Cop

Man Hires ‘Hacker’ Through Craigslist, Actually Hires Undercover Cop

In case you’re ever in a situation where you think hiring a hacker from Gumtree will improve things, just remember: you’re more likely to get an undercover police officer instead.

Lancaster PA native Zachary Landis had $US16,000 in outstanding fines to Lancaster County in relation to a string of DUIs and assaults. So, he placed an ad on Craigslist — using his personal phone number and email address — asking for a hacker who could wipe the record.

Naturally, a detective emailed Landis back, asking for the docket numbers of the cases he wanted wiped. Landis complied, giving the prosecutor the definition of an open-and-shut case, and getting himself felony counts of computer trespass, unlawful use of a computer, and tampering with public records.

Remember kids: if you’re going to cook up ill-advised plans to hack government computer systems, TOR and shady Dark Web sites are just a few clicks away.

[Lancaster County Court via The Register]


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