Facepalm: A federal court docket has sentenced a deadbeat dad to 81 months in jail for hacking authorities methods to pretend his loss of life. A grand jury indicted the person in July 2023 on a number of expenses of pc fraud, aggravated identification theft, and financial institution fraud. He admitted to accessing authorities methods and registering a fraudulent loss of life certificates to keep away from paying his again baby help.
The US Legal professional’s Workplace for the Japanese District of Kentucky prosecuted Somerset resident Jesse Kipf for cybercrimes concentrating on non-public and governmental networks. It started when he manipulated loss of life data in Hawaii’s loss of life registry system, falsely itemizing himself as deceased utilizing a cast digital signature to evade paying baby help. He additionally bought entry to those networks on the darkish internet. The US Legal professional stated Kipf’s crimes resulted in almost $200,000 in damages, disrupted crucial operations, and compromised private data.
“This scheme was a cynical and harmful effort, based mostly partly on the inexcusable objective of avoiding his baby help obligations,” stated United States Legal professional Carlton S. Shier, IV. “Thankfully, by way of the wonderful work of our regulation enforcement companions, this case will function a warning to different cyber criminals, and he’ll face the results of his disgraceful conduct.”
An FBI investigation revealed that Kipf accessed and tried to promote information from networks that included a personal firm and a state authorities registry. Kipf deliberate to make use of the stolen information, which included private identification data, for additional identification theft and fraud. His scheme’s magnitude and class indicated he has important technical abilities.
Authorities additionally charged Kipf with aggravated identification theft, which carries extreme penalties due to the far-reaching penalties for victims. The indictment moreover alleged that Kipf tried to make use of the stolen identities to fill out a number of financial institution mortgage purposes. In accordance with a US Legal professional’s Workplace press launch, his actions posed important dangers to particular person victims and the integrity of monetary and governmental networks.
“Working in collaboration with our regulation enforcement companions, this defendant who hacked a wide range of pc methods and maliciously stole the identification of others for his personal private achieve, will now pay the worth,” stated FBI Particular Agent in Cost Michael E. Stansbury for the Louisville Discipline Workplace. “Victims of identification theft face lifelong affect and for that purpose, the FBI will pursue anybody silly sufficient to have interaction on this cowardly conduct.”
The court docket sentenced Kipf to 81 months in federal jail, including that he should full no less than 85 p.c of his time earlier than turning into eligible for launch. Following his incarceration, Kipf faces three years of carefully supervised parole. His penalties might have been a lot increased had he not copped a plea.
Assistant US Legal professional Kate Ok. Smith reiterated her workplace’s dedication to pursuing justice in cybercrime and identification theft instances, highlighting the significance of safeguarding digital and private data in an more and more interconnected world.