Inmates ran $560K online dating extortion scheme

[Wayne]

https://apnews.com/091238d934e249bfaeff3daa8cdca960

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Five inmates in the Carolinas extorted more than half a million dollars from military personnel throughout the country, using illegal cellphones to pose as women on dating sites, authorities said Wednesday.

Standing in front of a state prison in Columbia, South Carolina, U.S. Attorney Sherri Lydon told reporters that five inmates had been indicted on federal charges including extortion and wire fraud. Ten others throughout the Carolinas have been charged with helping inmates collect extortion payments via services including Western Union or PayPal.

According to court documents, inmates used contraband phones to join dating websites, contacting and exchanging nude images with service members across the country.

Once the targets had been reeled in, Drew Goodridge of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service said, inmates then posed as an authority figure, like a father or police officer, claiming the girl with whom the victim had been communicating was underage and demanding money to keep the exchanges private.

Fearful they’d be accused of disseminating child pornography, possibly losing their military careers, more than 442 service members handed over more than $560,000 total, authorities said.

Lydon said the victims come from all branches and ranks of the military. According to Goodridge, more than 250 other cases were being investigated for potential extortion as part of “Operation Surprise Party,” which his agency began in January 2017.

“This operation will continue until we break the back of these criminal networks,” he said.

Inmates aren’t allowed to have cellphones behind bars, although thousands are smuggled inside each year. Corrections Director Bryan Stirling has long called illegally obtained cellphones the No. 1 security threat inside his institutions, as they allow inmates the unmonitored ability to communicate and potentially continue their criminal endeavors.

Officials have said a deadly riot earlier this year at Lee Correctional Institution was in part a turf war over contraband including cellphones.

“We do not lock up criminals only to have them go to prison and continue their criminal conduct,” Lydon said. “It is the unfettered use of contraband cellphones that allows inmates to continue harming the citizens of South Carolina.”

[SlapHappy]

https://www.foxnews.com/us/south-caroli ... ing-movies

SOUTH CAROLINAPublished 1 day ago

South Carolina inmates to get tablets for phone calls, watching movies
By Nicole Darrah | Fox News


South Carolina corrections officials are unveiling a program which will allow inmates to use computer tablets. (iStock)

Prisoners in South Carolina are in for a technological treat as corrections officials look to provide them with computer tablets to avoid the use of contraband cell phones.

The tablets will be unveiled as part of a technology program that officials hope will stop the smuggling of phones into prisons, Corrections Director Bryan Stirling told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The devices will allow inmates to make calls home at a cheaper rate than pre-existing phone calling programs, and will also provide access to pre-loaded educational materials and pre-approved streaming movie and music services through a secure Wi-Fi network.

Officials hope the tablets will make the idea of a smuggled-in cell phone less attractive to inmates. Cell phones are illegal but are still smuggled into the state's institutions by the thousands.

"This will go directly to that cellphone problem," Stirling said. "This is going to make our prisons safer."

Stirling and his predecessors have long spoken out about the dangers of cell phones, in large part due to the unfettered communication they allow both with the outside world and others behind bars. He has referred to the devices as the primary security threat in his prisons and has made eradicating them a top priority.

Officials have said that a riot at the Lee Correctional Institution in April 2018, in which seven inmates died, was sparked over a fight about contraband, including cell phones. Former Corrections officer Robert Johnson was nearly killed in 2010 in a hit orchestrated by an inmate using a cellphone.

Piloting the program at several prisons before expanding it systemwide, Stirling said the tablets will help with institutional security far past his concerns about cellphones. Simply put, they give idle inmates something to do and occupy time that could be spent on misdeeds.

"People just can't sit around and do nothing all day," Stirling said. "This is something that's going to make it safer for our staff and our officers."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[SlapHappy]

https://www.foxnews.com/tech/idaho-inma ... steal-225g

TECH Published July 30
Idaho inmates exploit tablet software flaw to steal $225G
By | PCmag


Tablet computers and a software vulnerability were enough to help 364 prison inmates in Idaho collectively steal $225,000.

According to the Idaho Department of Correction, the inmates were caught earlier this month exploiting a vulnerability in their prison-issued tablets, which allowed them to manipulate the digital credits they used to buy games and music.

The tablets were issued by JPay, which specializes in offering an online system for prison inmates. The services on board the tablets can let inmates read and write emails, view educational materials, and access entertainment.

But apparently, the JPay system also contained a vulnerability involving account credit amounts, which inmates across five Idaho correctional facilities decided to hack. "Fifty inmates credited their accounts in amounts of more than $1,000. The highest amount credited by a single inmate was $9,990.35," Jeff Ray, spokesman for the Idaho Department of Correction, said in an email.

"This conduct was intentional, not accidental," he added. "It required a knowledge of the JPay system and multiple actions by every inmate who exploited the system's vulnerability to improperly credit their account."

CenturyLink, which operates JPay, declined to disclose how the software was breached, but the vulnerability has been fixed, it said. The $225,000 was also stolen from the JPay system and was not taxpayer dollars.

So far, only $65,000 of the stolen credits has been recovered. As a punishment, Idaho correctional facilities have suspended the inmates' ability to download more music and games until they refund JPay. The inmates are also facing further disciplinary action that could reclassify the severity of their custody level.