NBC 6 out of Miami is reporting that two teenagers aged 12 and 14 attempted to rob a police station in Port Saint Lucie, Florida on March 12th. Apparently, the two walked up to a window, faked having a gun, and asked for cash. Not surprisingly, the heist was thwarted by several armed police officers in a matter of seconds and the duo is now being held on armed robbery charges.

We can only hope the event was caught on tape, and appears on YouTube or “America’s Dumbest Criminals”, soon. I’m sure the parents are beaming with joy.

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ZDnet is reporting that computer checks resulted in the investigation of the prostitution ring in which NY Governor Spitzer was implicated as a “John”.

The article states that a standard (and well known) check for transactions over $10k found something fishy was going on. The source however, was not Governor Spitzer’s account but, was the account(s) of the prostitution ring itself.

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The Washington Post is reporting that there are now a record number of Americans (1 in every 100) in correctional facilities in the United States and that the U.S. is leading the world in the ratio of people in prison.

Analysts are calling the surge in incarceration as a result of “tougher” sentences and the scaling back of probation and parole. But, I believe at least part of the surge is a result of technology used in crime fighting efforts.

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I love finding all the backdoor menus on my new cell phones. Secret codes for hidden menus on Motorola ic502 are…

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The recently debuted movie “Untraceable” pits FBI agent Jennifer Marsh (played by Diane Lane) against a serial killer who is using the Internet to post videos of victims and taunt law enforcement. The premise is frightening, but in reality anyone who taunts law enforcement using the Internet, and cell phones is likely to be caught quickly.

There are several techniques cunning criminals may try to mask cell phone usage including using disposable cell phones, or spoofing caller ID. Ultimately any evasion technique will not erase the technological footprints left at cell towers, switching offices, and the main telco office.

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If you are like the majority of Americans who own a cell phone which can send and receive text messages also known as SMS, MMS, or short mail be prepared for the next wave of SPAM. As if email SPAM wasn’t annoying enough, imagine getting text messages all day long and on top of being annoyed, imagine paying ten cents per each SPAM message you receive.

beep beep, it’s 5:30 AM, you look at your phone and see “-OK here’s a little help, 3 girls to chat with: GOLDIE, MENJFLY, KARINA22. Send her nickname + ur message to 44123, or txt MATCH for more.” At first glance it looks like maybe someone put the wrong number in, nah, It’s freaking SPAM on your cell phone and since you didn’t pay for the $15/month “unlimited texting plan” you just paid 10 cents for it.

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Law Enforcement resources are limited and crime reports are subject to being “triaged” with a surge in massive phishing attempts, fraud, and other online crimes - “cyber bullying” or online harassment has not been a priority for law enforcement. Often times complainants are told there is nothing we can do for you or told there is a jurisdictional issue.

The problem with “cyber bullying” is that online harassment is often a stepping stone to more serious crimes such as trespassing, stalking, assault, hate crimes, and even homicides. Cyber-bullies think the Internet is an anonymous safe ground and a good place to start victimizing.

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Since the advent of prepaid cell phones (also called disposable cell phones) law enforcement has had a hard time tracking criminals who use these disposable cell phones. The reason is that prepaid customers have not been required to provide personal information about themselves or when asked to provide a name they provide a false name.

Prepaid wireless has become the mainstay of drug dealers, prostitutes, and various other criminals.  However, the heyday of hiding behind prepaid wireless is ending thanks to a coordinated effort between the FCC and wireless phone providers and an embedded microchip.

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Billions have been spent on attacking global terrorism since the September, 11 2001 attacks including the military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. While the current efforts to track down terrorists who tote weapons of mass destruction and are responsible for nefarious deeds are certainly valid, a new attack has been waged on the U.S. and the enemies are winning.

What I’m talking about here, is Internet fraud and phishing attacks, a problem that has been largely ignored by the resource strapped U.S. government. It’s a problem that looks like a bunch of random thugs out to bilk money and steal the identities of unsuspecting Internet users. In reality it’s a coordinated foreign effort to bankrupt America.

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A little known telecommunications industry secret has been exposed in a big way. Just like email… telephone caller ID relies on the origination source to identify itself. Yes, The number that shows up on your caller ID isn’t the gospel truth - it could be a complete fake or a misrepresentation and that fact has a huge impact on court cases where caller ID data is used to prove stalking, harassment, and proof of consorting with drug dealers and other known criminals.

Who let the cat out of the bag? It all started innocently enough with the release to the open source Asterisk Voice over IP (VoIP) PBX software for Linux based operating systems. Asterisk is the powerful backbone to many popular VOIP solutions. Asterisk has a feature which allows the custom configuration of the phone number which is displayed on Caller ID. After all the caller ID is transmitted from the origination phone system so why not make that a customizable feature? This helps companies who have many outgoing phone lines display one unified number in which callers can return a phone call. Then along came a company called Spoof Card which uses this technology in an interesting way. Spoof Card allows a user to call a phone number (virtual calling card) and then input the phone number they wish to call and also input the phone number they wish to have appear on the caller ID, the call then connects.

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