Meth Ring Used Limewire to Steal Cash and IDs

Back in October the Denver District Attorney’s Office warned people about using the popular file-sharing program after finding personal and financial information that appeared to have been taken directly from computers that were using it.

It was during the course of a routine identity theft investigation that investigators found that the Limewire P2P program had been exploited to access the private data of 75 different individuals and businesses.

Well today eight people have been indicted in a Denver district court for allegedly being part of the group responsible for the scheme.

They allegedly used Limewire to help them steal tens of thousands of dollars over the course of a year, using the cash to buy meth and and personal items.

The 115-count indictment charges eight people with a variety of crimes including racketeering, computer crime, aggravated motor vehicle theft, theft, forgery, criminal impersonation, identity theft and drug charges.

It alleges that Michael Sarrasin; 27, Shawn Adams, 32; and Tamara Stesney, 36; were the primary makers and distributors of stolen and counterfeit checks, saying they used LimeWire to access account information from personal and business accounts across the country. Police said they would then use the information to open new bank accounts in the Denver area.

The indictment also alleges that the group was able to use file-sharing software to access names and account information from personal and business accounts across the country, and then use that information to open new bank accounts in the Denver area. The indictment alleges they created phony IDs to match the accounts and then used the accounts to deposit counterfeit checks and withdraw money.

Losses are estimated at more than $70,000 to victims that include King Soopers, Kohl’s, Academy Bank and Grand Kia. Investigators were able to recover counterfeit checks for more than $100,000 that had not yet been used.

Now we all hopefully know how unsafe Limewire and the infamous “shared files” folder can be, that goes without saying but, I wonder to what extant the RIAA or MPAA will try to use this story as part of the “Piracy Kills” campaign. I mean we’ve all heard that it kills jobs, stores, morality, etc., etc., will it now be listed as a “gateway drug” to meth use? Couldn’t it just be that all of that idle “up” time made them try to “pimp their Limewire” and use it for their own twisted purposes?

Either way, its reason number one million and one why people should be using BitTorrent.

Looking for stuff to download or watch?
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Related “HOW TO”guides:

Azureus – A Beginner’s Guide to BitTorrent Downloading
uTorrent – A Beginner’s guide to BitTorrent downloading

SOULXTC: “walkin’ the streets of P2P”

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