The Word 9/The Word 9 (Disk 1 of 2).adf/Files_1/01-LithiumBust.txt/01-LithiumBust.txt

Text File | 1996-01-17 | 6.7 KB | 128 lines

|1-Lithium/Eltech^K!nky



|1-Gets Busted!



|1-The Full Story!



    On Tuesday 15th of August at 7:30, I was listening to a message on a
Meridian  VMB  system  (318716).  It was a system which I had been using
for  many  months  without  trouble.   During the message, I noticed the
digital  display  on my telephone grow very dim.  That was pretty wierd,
because  it  had  never  happened before.  I just put the phone down and
ignored it.  That second there was a knock at my back door.  My mum came
through  to my bedroom and said that there was an investigation guy from
BT  and  some  police  officers.  I immediately shit myself.  Three guys
came in and entered my bedroom.  One guy asked me what number I had just
called.   I  told them I had just dialled a voice mail box system.  Then
one  of the other guys (who was obviously a police officer) arrested me.
I  couldn't  believe  it.  It was like something out of 'The Bill'.  You
know,  it  was the 'anything you say may be written down and may be used
in  evidence...'  thing.  I just sat there, shitting myself.  Anyway, it
turns  out  that one of the guys (Mr.  Goran) is from BT's investigation
department.   One  was  from  Fraud  Squad  and  the  other was a police
officer.

    The BT guy started to search my room.  He told me he was looking for
credit  card  numbers  and  0800  numbers.   I knew I didn't have any CC
numbers lying about, but I did have shit-loads of 0800 numbers scribbled
down  on  bits  of  paper.   He  found  these and they were given to the
officer.   He  spent  around  30  minutes searching my room but he found
nothing  else.   He  then  told  me  he had to take away my computer and
examine it (OH NO!).  So I had to disconnect all the leads and stuff and
pass  my  computer  over to the officer.  Bummer man.  They also took my
multisync monitor, Sportster, mouse, CD ROM drive and power supply.  Sob
sob.   In  fact  the  only  thing  that they left was my external floppy
drive.   I've  got thousands of disks containing various scene stuff but
they  didn't  take any of them.  I told them that any information that I
had was stored on my internal hard drive.

    My  computer  bits  and pieces were loaded into the back of this red
Rover and I was told to sit in the back.  The three blokes all got in as
well  and  we  drove  off to the police station.  When we arrived, I was
escorted  in and I had to answer a few questions from the woman at desk.
Address,  age  and stuff like that.  I was then asked if I wanted a duty
solicitor  but  I  declined, as my step-dad had advised me just before I
left  the  house.   Instead, I asked to see my family's solicitor.  They
told  me  while  they  try  to get hold of him, I will have to wait in a
cell.   They  asked  me  if  I wanted to make a phone call.  I declined.
They  then  searched me, before leading me to a cell.  This was probably
the  scariest  moment  of  all, being locked up in a cell.  I just layed
down  on  the  wooden  bed  and tried to sleep.  About an hour later (it
seemed a hell of a lot longer!), the cell was opened and I was told they
had  my  solicitor  on  the phone.  I went into a room and spoke to him,
explaining  what  exactly I had been arrested for.  Unfortunately he was
miles  away  from  the  police  station and it would take him an hour to
drive there.  Bummer.  So back I went into the cell for another hour.

    Finally  I  was let out again and I was relieved to see my solicitor
waiting  for  me.   We went to a little room and I started to explain to
him  a  bit  more about the stuff I had been doing.  Not only had I been
using  a  VMB,  but  also I had been abusing MCI and AT&T 0800 numbers -
using  them  to call around the world.  And I was also using an American
VMB to get access to CompuServe.

    After  explaning  all my phreaking exploits to my solicitor, we went
out and told the BT dude I was ready to be interviewed.

    In  the  interview  room  was myself and my solicitor sitting on one
side  of  a  table,  and  the  BT guy and two police guys sitting on the
other.   A tape was started and we all had to introduce ourselves.  Then
the questioning began.

    The  guy  from  BT  asked  all the questions, the police guys and my
solicitor  basically  sat there silent for the whole time.  I guess that
was  because  they hadn't the faintest idea about telecommunications and
hacking and all the associated jargon.  I would say the interview lasted
for  an  hour,  and  during  that  time I admitted EVERYTHING.  I had to
becuase  they  had  caught me red handed.  There was no way I could lie.
The  BT  guy  presented  me  a HUGE listing of every number I had called
since  January.  There was hundreds of pages of this listing showing not
only  my  out-going calls, but also all the in-coming calls as well.  It
listed EVERY 0800 number I had dialled.  Bummer.

    After  the  interview,  I  was  led to the photo and finger printing
room.   I  had  my  photo  and  finger prints taken.  The BT guy and the
officers  seemed surprisingly friendly during this time for some reason.
The  BT  dude thanked me for being so honest and the officer said that I
would  probably  only  get  a caution.  I bloody hoped so!  Anyway, they
asked  me  tonnes  of  questions and there was lots of personal stuff in
there  as well.  They said it was all necessary.  Yeah, okay.  After the
questions  finished,  I  was led back to the front desk and I was told I
was going to be released on bail.  Phew.  I signed a couple of forms and
they asked me to come back on the 4th October (WHAT?!  Why so long?!).

    On  the  23rd  of  September,  I  recieved  a letter from the police
station.   It  stated  that my bail had been cancelled and that I didn`t
need  to  turn  up  on  the  4th  of  October.   But  it  also  said the
investigation  was continuing and they would notify me by way of summons
if I was to be charged.  So I had to just sit and wait.

    On  the  27th  November  I  finally heard from them again.  They had
decided to only caution me and my computer would be returned.  Phew.

    The  guy  who  had originally arrested me came round to see me later
that  day  to  let  me  know when I had to go down the the station to be
cautioned.   He  told  me that BT had wanted to prosecute me, but he had
persuaded them not to.  Nice one.  And on the 21st December, my computer
was  returned  to  me.  I had to delete my phreaking files, but that was
all.

    I  realise  I have been EXTREMELY lucky as I know BT actually wanted
to  prosecute  me.   I certainly won't be calling any 0800 numbers for a
while  :)  I would suggest that none of you lot did either, as it's just
not worth the hassle.  If you carry on phreaking, fair enough, but don't
say  I  didn't  warn you.  I didn't think I would get caught, but I did.
And YOU could as well.  Please think about it.

|1-By Glen



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