Teen Duo Prosecuted For Hacking

Two teenagers from Brighton have been prosecuted by the Met police for hacking and stealing credit card details from casino sites.

The culprits are 19-year-old Zachary Woodham and 18-year-old Louis Tobenhouse. Both pleaded guilty to several computer misuse and fraud offences back in December, according to the Metropolitan Police Service’s e-Crime Unit.

Among other cyber crimes, Woodham, who disguised his online identity under the name Colonel Root, has hacked into Andrew Laws’ webhosting site Punkyhosting three times in 2009, resulting in the company being shut down. The young criminal also emailed Laws about the crime he had committed.

Colonel Root

“The impact of this attack was exacerbated by a mocking email I received at the time of the final attack from the lead attacker – a person calling himself ‘Colonel Root’,” Laws wrote in his blog on Monday.

During the arrest in Brighton last May, police found thousands of bank details had been compromised by Woodham’s online criminal activities. Further investigation also led officers to identify Tobenhouse’s involvement.

According to the Met Police’s report, the two hackers are also “active participants” of the online criminal forum GhostMarket, an online marketplace for stolen wares.

“Woodham and Tobenhouse posted tutorials on the website giving advice on how to hack into company websites, commit acts of fraud, and evade police capture,” says the report.

Cyber crime is not victimless

Southwark Crown Court has sentenced Woodham to 12 months imprisonment with a two-year suspension and 240 hours of unpaid work for hacking, encouraging crime, possessing articles for fraud and acquiring criminal property.

As for his fellow hacker Tobenhouse, the court sentenced him to 200 hours of unpaid work and a 12-month community order for encouraging crime and possession of articles for fraud.

The two hackers’ main targets included online casinos, betting companies and other online firms.

“Woodham and Tobenhouse chose to abuse their computer skills causing a considerable amount of financial loss and anxiety to a number of innocent people,” said detective constable Stuart Hosking, Police Central e-Crime Unit.

“This case illustrates that Internet crime is not victimless and that the Police Central e-Crime Unit will pursue perpetrators of such offences in support of victims, and to ensure they be held accountable for their actions,” he added.