December 20, 2013
Police: Hacker caught
Kokomo Tribune
The Kokomo Tribune
Fri Dec 20, 2013, 02:50 AM EST
State police say a 16-year-old Miami County boy hacked into a Howard County woman’s bank card account using information he found on Facebook and racked up more than $1,000 in fraudulent charges.
The juvenile was arrested Tuesday evening and faces accusations of identity deception and fraud.
Indiana State Police Detective Josh Maller started his investigation after a 54-year-old Howard County woman reported that her debit card was being used to make unauthorized Internet purchases.
The woman reported the fraud to BMO Harris Bank, where an alert employee took a screen shot of the unauthorized purchases as they were being deleted from the account.
Maller tracked a package purchased with the Howard County woman’s debit card to its destination in Miami County, state police reported.
Indiana State Police officers set up surveillance on the home and arrested the boy when the package was delivered.
The boy lived at the home with his parents, who were purportedly not aware of the teen’s alleged Internet activities. After his arrest, the boy was released into the custody of his parents, Maller said. His case was turned over to juvenile authorities.
Police say the boy used information found on the woman’s public Facebook page to hack into her into her personal email account. Through the email account, he was able to gain access to the woman’s iTunes account.
The teen allegedly used the debit card information stored in the iTunes account to make over $1,000 in purchases from the Apple store.
“This should serve as a cautionary tale for anyone who makes purchases or posts personal information on the Internet,” Maller said in a news release.
“No accounts on the Internet are 100 percent secure. It is recommended that Internet users do not post personal information on social media sites, nor have accounts set up to make purchases with a pre-entered debit or credit card.”