Prison inmates used old computers to commit fraud

If television has taught us anything about prison it’s that inmates can get away with some audacious things. Whether it’s underground operations, escape plans or sneaking in forbidden objects, fictional prisoners can get away with murder – sometimes literally. It turns out that some of these crafty activities are not confined to the small screen.

In what might sound like a movie subplot, two inmates in an Ohio state prison got hold of two computers destined for the scrapheap, stashed them in the ceiling and used them to commit identity fraud.

The culprits of this slammer scheme, Adam Johnston and Scott Spriggs, were able to spot a former prison employee’s password by peeking over the unsuspecting individual’s shoulder. They then used his details to log in to Ohio’s Department of Rehabilitation and Correction’s secure network and commit identity fraud with another inmate’s social security number.

The inmates also used their new-found tech to create access cards for restricted areas and message their relatives. The duo were clearly having quite the time as investigators also found porn, articles about makeshift drugs, explosives and credit cards on the system. That’s quite a collection.

According to the BBC, the two were let down by their own ambition after exceeding the daily network usage on said computers. The activity was a red flag – especially when the employee whose login details they held wasn’t actually scheduled to work that day.

If you were thinking you’ve heard the craziest part of the story, you’d be wrong. Actually, all this occurred way back in 2015 and the slammer has got into some pretty hot water for not reporting in properly.

Ohio’s regional news site Cleveland, revealed: “State investigators said prison officials waited too long to report the computers.” They are even accused of removing evidence from the crime scene before it could be examined. For its part, Ohio state has issued a statement saying they will “take any additional steps necessary to prevent these types of things from happening again”.

Images: Dave Nakayama used under creative commons