The line between chutzpah and reckless
is often the same fine line between spectacular success and laughable fiasco
A cybercriminal who ran a mere eBay scam became a more significant collar for the US Department of Justice after he successfully stole the identity of the special agent investigating him. Rohit Jawa, 25, has pleaded guilty to eight counts of wire fraud, and one count of stealing a special agent's identity which he then used to …
It's not unusual to find criminals who think they're brighter than they are but this seems to be an outstanding example.
OTOH am I alone in being worried by the idea of "a web portal which provides access to criminal intelligence and other highly privileged information for law enforcement officials" which can be accessed by a bit of social engineering?
> I can't abide these Jawas
Quite right - terrible Eastern European motorbikes. Engines made of Swiss cheese, frames made of partially-vulcanised rubber. One step up from CZ motorbikes though.
Mines the one with the Honda C70 manual in the pocket. That's what I was riding when my brothers had Jawas and CZs..
Just this week I had an Ebay scammer send me an empty, but "signed-for" envelope containing nothing but a flyer, just so he could then provide "proof of delivery" to Ebay. Nasty and deceitful fellow who I suspect will shortly get his just deserts. Have raised this with Ebay who are now investigating, as it's clear he's done this to others, but am also considering calling in the police as well, but with all the cutbacks, it's doubtful they will do anything about it...
DEFINITELY get a crime number from the police. Even if they don't do anything, it will help your case with eBay. I had similar - was sent a (tracked, signed-for) postcard from China instead of the electronic item that I ordered. eBay/Paypal sorted the problem out without hassle.
eBay will send you instructions about what to do, just follow them and let the process do its stuff.
Jack Walsh: I know my rights. You owe me phone calls.
Alonzo Mosely: What should be of paramount importance to you right now is not the phone calls, it's the fact that you're gonna spend ten years for impersonating a federal agent.
Jack Walsh: 10 years for impersonating a fed, uh?
Alonzo Mosely: 10 years.
Jack Walsh: How comes no one's after you?
He kind of made FBI a laughing stock, first, he broke their "security" by social engineering (" purporting to be the special agent phoned FBI tech support and successfully obtained a temporary username and password) and then he set up fake FBI ebay and other accounts impersonating NINE FBI staff, including the agent who'd been investingating him. You couldn't make this up...
Why, exactly, should the OIG investigator be fired?
He suspected theft of a parcel by a postal employee, not mail fraud. He corresponded with the seller under that premise, and law enforcement officers and investigators are generally required to provide identification when asked, and for good reason.
Really, who's ballsy enough to attempt to steal the identity of a LEO? Well, this utinni, apparently, but seriously, you DO NOT want to go down a road that has law enforcement refusing to provide their credentials. Down that road leads to far greater impersonation of law enforcement, since anyone loud and burly can just start shouting "Police! On the ground! I don't gotta show shit!" and people will comply for fear of legal problems if they don't and oh look, now they're being robbed/kidnapped/raped/murdered/assaulted with a bannana-cream pie.
No, all the officer did was provide his credentials, which he is obliged to do by law.
I suspect the rest is the result of lax procedures that don't have a second party authentication requirement, or not following those procedures that do.
None of which was done by the officer whose creds had been stolen.
If there is an idiot in the room, it ain't the agent.
Fourteen US Postal Inspectors and Postal Police Officers have died in the line of duty.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Inspection_Service#Fallen_Officers