Matthew Delorey of New Bedford, Mass., is charged with one count of conspiracy and one count of wire fraud. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison for each charge, and a $250,000 fine.

Delorey allegedly ran a now-defunct Web site called Massmodz.com, where hacked modems were sold. The modems had been modified in order to spoof the device’s MAC (Media Access Control) address. It is possible then to either obtain free Internet access or make it appear that a different modem is obtaining access.

Authorities alleged that Delorey sold two of the modified modems to an undercover FBI agent.

Delorey also allegedly posted to YouTube showing how to get free Internet access through modified cable modems.

He allegedly posted instructional videos with titles such as “Massmodz.com How to Get Free Internet Free Cable Internet Comcast or any Cable ISP – 100% works” and “Massmodz.com How to bypass Comcast registration page with premod cable modem SB5100, SB 5101.”

Federal authorities have recently moved against other people regarding cable modems. In October Ryan Harris, 26, was arrested for allegedly running a San Diego company called TCNISO that sold customizable cable modems and software that could be used to get free Internet service or a speed boost for paying subscribers. Harris is charged with conspiracy, computer intrusion and wire fraud.

A Fight Identity Theft visitor forwarded this email to us today and it was so creative I just had to post it here.

The email supposedly comes from Robert Mueller - the current head of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations. Not only was it sent by the FBI, the scammers try to get you to believe it's been vetted by the Anti-Terrorist and International Fraud Division. Unbelievable.

Why Do They Send These Emails?

What they're really after is the fee they want you to pay in order to collect your $850,000 - that's why they call this an "advanced-fee fraud." The fee is sent by money order which makes it very difficult to trace and impossible to recover. Here's the money paragraph:

This letter will serve as proof that the Federal Bureau Of Investigation is authorizing you to pay the required $239.99 ONLY to your claims agent via the information in which she shall send to you upon your request, if you do not receive your winning prize of $850,000.00 US Dollars we shall be held responsible for the loss and this shall invite a penalty of $3,000 which will be made PAYABLE ONLY by you (The Winner).

 The $239.99 will likely only be the start of the fraud. They'll continue to ask for more money in order to deliver the $850,000. No matter how much you pay, the money will never end up in your bank account.

From: robertmul@fbi.gov.us
Subject: E-mail From The FBI..
Date: Wed, 2 Dec 2009 13:53:50 -0500

Anti-Terrorist and International Fraud Division
Federal Bureau Of Investigation.
Seattle, Washington 98101-2904
Telephone/Fax Number: +1(206) 426-2866
 
Attn: Beneficiary
 
This is to Officially inform you that it has come to our notice and we have thoroughly completed an Investigation with the help of our Intelligence Monitoring Network System that you legally won the sum of $850,000.00 US Dollars from a Lottery Company in the United Kingdom. During our investigation we discovered that your e-mail won the money from an Online Balloting System and we have authorized this winning to be authentic and paid to you via a Certified Cashier's Check.
 
Normally, it will take up to 10 business days for an International Check to be cashed by your local bank. We have successfully come to an agreement with this company on your behalf that funds are to be drawn from a registered bank within the United States Of America so as to enable you cash the check instantly without any delay, henceforth the stated amount of $850,000.00  US Dollars has been deposited with Bank Of America.
We have completed this investigation and you are hereby approved to receive the winning prize as we have verified the entire transaction to be Legitimate, Safe and 100% risk free of scams and frauds of any nature, due to the fact that the funds have been deposited at Bank Of America you will be required to settle the following bills directly to the lottery claims agent in-charge of this transaction whom is located at the liaison office of the Lottery Company in Seattle-Washington. According to our discoveries, you are required to pay for the following:
 
(1) Deposit Fee's (Fee's paid by the lottery company for the deposit into an American Bank which is - Bank of America)
(2) Cashier's Check Conversion Fee (Fee for converting the Wire Transfer payment into a Certified Cashier's Check)
(3) Shipping Fee's (This is the charge for shipping the Cashier's Check to your nominated destination)
 
The total amount for everything is $239.99 (Two Hundred & Thirty Nine United States Dollars & Ninety Nine Cents). We have tried our possible best to indicate that this $239.99 should be deducted from your winning prize but the funds have already been deposited at The Bank of America and cannot be accessed by anyone apart from you the winner. Therefore you will be required to pay the needed funds to your lotto claims Agent in-charge of this transaction via Western Union Money Transfer Or Money Gram. The payment will NOT reflect at the Bank of America with the given transaction code(EA2948-910) until you have covered the processing fees needed.
 
In order to proceed with this transaction, Click Here to contact your claims agent Mrs. Louise Major. You will be required to call her for verbal verification and e-mail her with the following informations:
 
FULL NAME:
FULL MAILING ADDRESS(INCLUDING CITY/STATE/ZIPCODE):
AGE/SEX/OCCUPATION:
CONTACT PHONE NUMBERS(CELL & HOME):
 
You will also be required to request Western Union details on how to send the required $239.99 in order to immediately ship your prize of $850,000.00 US Dollars via Certified Cashier's Check drawn from The Bank of America, Also include the following transaction code in order for her to immediately identify this transaction : EA2948-910.
 
This letter will serve as proof that the Federal Bureau Of Investigation is authorizing you to pay the required $239.99 ONLY to your claims agent via the information in which she shall send to you upon your request, if you do not receive your winning prize of $850,000.00 US Dollars we shall be held responsible for the loss and this shall invite a penalty of $3,000 which will be made PAYABLE ONLY by you (The Winner).
 
Signed:
Robert Mueller
Federal Bureau Of Investigation                    
 
NOTE: In order to ensure your check gets delivered to you ASAP, you are advised to immediately contact Mrs. Louise Major via contact information provided above and make the required payment of $239.99 to information in which she will provide you.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The information contained in this email message is legally privileged and confidential information intended solely for the use of the intended recipient(s). If you are not the intended recipient(s), any distribution, dissemination, or reproduction of this email message is strictly prohibited.

We know everyone is looking for that best deal online, especially during the Black Friday shopping blitz. Here are some quality online shopping tips from Intersections, Inc. (provider of the Identity Guard identity theft protection service).

We also recommend a post from the always excellent Privacy Rights Clearinghouse - "Holiday Shopping? Ten Timely Tips"

Don’t Let Would-Be “Grinches” Steal Your Financial Health and Identity During the Busiest Shopping Season of the Year!

As the biggest holiday shopping days of the year quickly approach, consumers everywhere will be lining up at stores on "Black Friday" for pre-dawn sales that will hopefully net great bargains and savings on holiday gifts. For those that don't want to fight the massive crowds at the malls and local shopping centers, they'll surf the Web on "Cyber Monday" - the Monday right after Thanksgiving - to catch even better sales, conveniently ordering their gifts online to have them shipped all over the world.

Finding the right deal on the perfect gift is going to be a priority this holiday shopping season as consumers everywhere are penny pinching during tougher economic times. The National Retail Federation expects average holiday spending this year will be around $682.74, down 3 percent from $705.01 last year, so getting the best value for your money is key, whether the gift is found on the Internet or at a retail store. With major online price breaks offered on Cyber Monday, online shopping sales are expected to increase 18 percent over last year, according to Information Resources, Inc.

To kick off the 2009 holiday shopping season, Intersections Inc. (Nasdaq: INTX), a leading global provider of consumer and corporate identity risk management services, and provider of IDENTITY GUARD® Total Protection, the award winning identity theft protection service, advises holiday shoppers to take extra caution to avoid damaging their credit or becoming a victim of identity theft. Identity theft peaks this time of year -- wallets are stolen, credit cards are accidentally left behind and scammers everywhere are looking to prey on their next victims -- but there are simple steps consumers can take to avoid making careless decisions that can have a long-term effect on their financial well-being.

Intersections recommends the following safety tips for holiday shoppers:

1. Protect your computer from online threats including money-stealing Trojans. Fraudsters are eagerly waiting to take advantage of the millions of credit card transactions that will be made online this holiday season. They are lurking to find any weak links in your network to gain access to your personal and credit information. More recently, they are using sophisticated Trojans to grab your bank account and credit card login information, disable your security software, and sneak into your bank account by pretending to be you. Trojans are even smart enough to quietly drain your bank account over the holiday period based on the assumption that you'll be too busy to check exactly how much you're spending until the New Year. The best way to avoid Trojans is to (a) not open attachments or click on email links; (b) be careful where you surf and stick to online "neighborhoods" where you really feel safe; and (c) regularly patch your computer and update your anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall software.
2. Take a tip from online merchants and "trust but verify." Whether it's online shopping searches, incredible gift offers, or holiday wishes from your Twitter "Tweeps" or Facebook friends, the best way to avoid gift-wrapping yourself for scammers this year is to turn your cynicism on to the highest level. If you think before you click, you might just play Grinch to an identity thief.
3. Be careful buying gift cards. Make sure that you purchase gift cards that are legitimate and secure, and avoid buying gift cards secondhand from an unverified source. UK-based security firm Corsaire recently found that the vulnerable magnetic-stripe technology used for gift cards and customer loyalty cards make these attractive targets for hackers. Additionally, the research revealed that gift cards can easily be "sniffed" off the shelf in the checkout line with a scanner and cloned, card numbers can be stolen, and retailers' gift card Web sites can be hacked.
4. Avoid Tweet Traps! Scammers fully understand the power and reach of social networks, and gathering places like Facebook and Twitter are a feeding ground for all kinds of thieves this holiday season. According to the eHoliday Study by Shop.org (a division of the National Retail Federation), 47.1 percent of retailers said they will be increasing their use of social media during the holidays. The biggest threat to be wary of this year is the "Tweet Trap" - a message that appears to be from a trusted friend or follower passing on some great news, a real bargain, or a worthy cause, but instead hides spam, phishing fraud, or a malicious download. Consumers should be cautious about Tweets or Facebook messages about great holiday deals, must-have gifts, or hard luck stories, even if they are coming from "friends." If they sound interesting, do your own research to see if they're genuine. But don't click or download.
5. If a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is. This scam has focused on promising shoppers the hard-to-find gift at an irresistible price and in most cases, the gift doesn't exist, doesn't arrive, the seller demands far more for it, or simply steals the shopper's credit card information. But this year, hackers are upping the stakes by hacking into the search ranking systems of the major search engines like Yahoo! and Google so that their fraudulent or malware-infected web sites appear at the top of shopper searches. And most shoppers still believe that if a Web site is at the top of a search engine's list, it has to be legitimate.
6. Do NOT give out your financial information over the phone or email. If your bank or credit card company sends you an email or even calls you warning you of insufficient funds or other problems with your account, contact them directly using the customer service numbers posted on their web sites. Don't respond to their emails or to any number they provide in an email or phone message.
7. Keep travel plans private. Don't give a gift to digital burglars by Tweeting or posting updates to Facebook about your holiday plans like when you're going to be away from home or all the cool stuff you bought. Otherwise your new purchases may end up under someone else's tree.
8. Do a post-holiday credit health check-up. After the holidays are over, be sure to check your credit reports, credit card statements and bank statements to verify all transactions. Each transaction you made, either in retail stores or online, could have been compromised, adversely affecting your credit and your credit score. Notify your bank or credit card company immediately if you see anything suspicious.

"With a soft economy and higher unemployment rates, consumers are under increased pressure to cut holiday spending, and this may lead to an increased willingness to take on greater risks," said Steven Schwartz, Intersections' Executive Vice President of Consumer Solutions. "While retailers will respond with timely offers and special discounts, it's important for customers to protect themselves from scammers and cyber scrooges who may try to prey on their emotions with targeted offline and online schemes."

One way to protect yourself is to be vigilant about where you shop (online or at the mall), what information you provide and to whom, and to protect your computer from spyware, malicious code and Trojans. Intersections' IDENTITY GUARD® Total Protection is the most comprehensive offering on the market today covering personal information, credit reports, public records, computer, Internet and mobile transactions. The service also provides sophisticated software that protects consumers against keylogging attacks, secures their passwords and user IDs as they navigate online, identifies legitimate websites, and protects their computers from advanced malware software. IDENTITY GUARD® Total Protection also provides identity theft recovery services and financial reimbursement insurance in the event identity theft occurs. Find out more at www.identityguard.com.

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