Phishing is a type of computer crime that involves the theft of passwords and other personal information for financial gain.  Phishing is generally achieved either through false pretenses and having the user voluntarily surrender their information through electronic communication.  Alternatively, a tech savvy criminal can spoof websites, emails, popups and wireless networks to steal private information entered by the user.  Almost all forms of phishing involving having the victim divulging account or pin numbers.  The threat of phishing increases in unsecured connections or webpages.

One can typically spot phishing attempts through subtle flaws in official seeming communication from banks as well as patterns of suspicious behavior.  Most banks and financial institutions will affirm that they will never ask the user for personal information or credentials.

Phishing is a federal offense and will be prosecuted by the Federal Trade Commission.  Current federal penalties for phishing fraud are fines up to $250,000 and 5 years in prison.  The legal precedent for phishing is still being established when only a few high profile cases prosecuted.  Phishing is not always well defined and can be applied broadly to having unauthorized access to sensitive financial data.

If you are being investigated by the federal government for phishing or hacking, you should contact a New York computer crimes lawyer to mount a defense.  You will require the best defense from a competent legal professional that understands the unique circumstances surrounding computer times.  To set up a consultation, call our NYC federal lawerys at (212) 577 6677 today.

Louis Puesan, a Time Warner Cable technician was convicted of 8 counts of Computer Trespass, Computer Tampering, Unlawful Duplication of Computer Related Material, and Unlawful Possession of Computer Related Material, for illegally installing a spyware program on 3 of his employer’s New York City office computers. It was alleged that the spyware program grants Puesan unauthorized access to Time Warner Cable’s customer database and billing system.

Puesan allegedly used a “keylogger” spyware program to store the keystrokes of fellow Time Warner employees. By tracking keystrokes, Puesan acquired passwords of active employees with authorized access to Time Warner’s customer database and billing system.

Puesan currently faces a maximum penalty of 32 years in state prison.

Egor Shevelev, a Ukrainian citizen was arrested in Greece and extradited to New York State for multiple counts of fraud and cybercrime. Shevelev allegedly played a role in a global identity theft scheme and global trafficking of stolen credit card account numbers.

Between 2001 and 2007, Shevelev and co-conspirators Viatcheslav Vasilyev, Vladimir Kramarenko, Dzmitry Burak and Oleg Kovelin ran a global Internet-based criminal enterprise called “Western Express Cybercrime Group”. Cybercrime Group was mainly trafficking stolen credit card numbers and personal account numbers. Shevelev alone possessed 75,000 stolen credit card accounts and over $2,500,000 of fraudulent proceeds.

Shevelev’s roles were to purportedly vendor the stolen identities and manage the money received through Egold digital currency.

If convicted, Shevelev faces a maximum penalty of more than 50 years in prison.