Intellectual Property Law

Men Charged With Hijacking DOD Paychecks

By David Kravets

A federal grand jury is indicting two Southern California men accused of using peer-to-peer file sharing software to hijack unsuspecting victims’ money, including paychecks from five Department of Defense employees.

The defendants, San Diego federal prosecutors say, from 2005 and 2006 accessed the passwords and repeatedly logged into a DOD online payroll system known as “DFAS MyPay” to redirect paychecks to prepaid credit cards ? about $20,000 in all. The accused obtained the passwords after the victims erroneously made them available on peer-to-peer networks, including Limewire and Bearshare.

Tuesday’s unsealed indictments charge Jeffrey Girandola and Kajohn Phommavong, both of whom remain jailed pending their next court appearance, expected in January. Girandola is in San Diego County Jail pending unrelated, state identity theft charges, the authorities said.

The victims’ identities were not disclosed.

The duo is charged with conspiracy, computer fraud, access device fraud and identity theft. (.pdf)

Photo: TW Collins

See Also:

• Supreme Court: Feds Abusing Identity Theft Law
• Stolen Wallets, Not Hacks, Cause the Most ID Theft? Debunked
• U.S. Identity Theft Convictions Increase 26 Percent, Feds Say …
• Startup Plans to Solve Online Identity Theft, But Does Anyone Care?
• Feds Swoop In on Nationwide Pickpocket, I.D. Theft Ring
• Judge Rules LifeLock's Fraud Alert Service Illegal
• The Pros and Cons of LifeLock

Full post as published by Threat Level on December 09, 2009 (boomark / email).