Knightshadow Bust   by Independent (IND)

- The one and only truth on the bust - The following newspaper article clears up a lot of the rumours and bullshit that have been floating around following the bust of many good elite dudes from the States in the last couple of months. One thing that is interesting to note about this article is that it fails to mention the role Kimble ( alias Bitbug or Toyabug from Germany ) had in the bust of these US based elites. Kimble you might remember was the German captured by the German police earlier this summer and charged with stealing over 50 million deutchmarks worth of long distance phone calls. He was advertising his illegal services in magazines when busted. Was everyone involved in the scene totally asleep at the switch - there were about 40 text files floating around telling of the Kimble bust, and the Kimble sting, and the return of Kimble after the bust. Why the hell did the Yank players not take the hint and get the hell out when the shit first hit the fan - can they not read or was greed blinding them to what was logically going to happen after their German dealer got busted. So if anyone wants to know how the US dudes were busted just look to Kimble back in Germany and you will know how the whole thing got busted wide open. Kimble bought his cards from two big name folks who were busted first. They in turn were forced to cooperate with the Secret Service. Eventually it all traced back to Lay and the whole trap was completed and closed. ---------- BEGIN ARTICLE -------------------------- TITLE : $50 Million Dollar Phone Fraud Cracked by Police SUBTITLE : Employee of phone company behind ring NEWSPAPER : October 3 1994, Los Angeles Times LOS ANGELES, California - In what is believed to be the largest fraud of its kind, an MCI employee has been charged with stealing more than 100,000 telephone calling card numbers that were used to make more than $50 million US of long distance calls, say federal authorities. MCI employee Ivy James Lay was alleged to be the main supplier of stolen card numbers to an international ring of thieves operating in Los Angeles and at least five other US cities, Spain and Germany the US Secret Service said the federal agency that investigates interstate telephone fraud. The Secret Service investigation ended in Southern California last Thursday when agents seized numerous items from the home of a co-conspirator, which included six computers with pirated commercial copyrighted software and thousands of calling card numbers stored on computer disks. Tens of thousands of customers of MCI, AT&T, Sprint and several local telephone companies were victimized by the scam, the Secret Service said. But those consumers - many still unaware of the scam - won't be billed for fraudulent calls on their phone card numbers, spokesmen for MCI, AT&T and Sprint said. Secret Service sources familiar with the case said the ring was unprecedented for its sophisticated use of computers and ohter activities coordinated on a global scale. According to MCI officials, the ring was more sophisticated and better organized in comparison to other credit card and calling card scams perpetrated in the past by people who obtained small amounts of cards by computer hacking or physical means, such as getting carbon copies of purchases or watching customers enter calling card numbers at airport terminals. Lay, a switch engineer based in Charlotte, North Carolina, was charged and arrested last week and subsequently released on bail. He faces felony charges of access device fraud and could serve 10 years if convicted, the Secret Service said. Lay was unavailable for comment. MCI officials characterized the case as the largest of its kind in terms of known losses. The ring ran the gamut of crimes against telephone and computer software companies said Leslie Aun, an MCI spokeswoman, adding that Lay was fired immediately and turned over to law enforcement officials when the investigation in Charlotte was concluded last week. The latest action ended a 4 1/2 month investigation by the Secret Service into Calling Card fraud. Search warrants were also served on six alleged co-conspirators in Los Angeles, Seattle, Philadelphia, Minneapolis and Chicago, resulting in the seizure of large quantities of customized computer gear and stolen calling credit card numbers, the Secret Service said. Secret Service Special Agent Steven A Sepulveda said Lay, who was known in the computer hacking community as Knightshadow devised special software to trap calling card numbers from a variety of local and long distance carriers coming across MCI's telephone switching equipment. The card numbers were sold to other co-conspirators, who in turn sold them to computer hackers in the United States and Europe, Sepulveda said. Secret Service sources said the co-conspirators will shortly face indictments from a federal grand jury in Charlotte, where all the cases are being consolidated. --------------- END OF ARTICLE -----------