29-year old Devon, England citizen Ashley Mitchell -- who we'll be referring to as "Cyber Danny Ocean" for the remainder of this article -- has been sentenced to two years in prison plus a 30-week suspended sentence for stealing £7 million ($11.4 million) in virtual currency for Zynga Poker. The methods Cyber Danny Ocean used were far less exciting and sophisticated than his cinematic counterpart: He hijacked the accounts of two Zynga employees, added the funds to his account, and re-sold them for a cool £53,612.
How did C.D.O. get caught? He performed said heist while using his neighbor's unsecured Wi-Fi connection. That seems like a pretty obvious slip-up -- we think he did it on purpose, to spare the rest of his crew from ending up in the slammer. We bet that when he gets out, Cyber Brad Pitt is going to be waiting to pick him up, waiting with a pithy remark about his suit. Who's that in the car? Oh, it's Cyber Julia Roberts -- and she's still in love with him! Credits.
Reader Comments (37)
Posted: Mar 23rd 2011 3:44PM Jack Kevorkian said
bah he should have VPNed. Then it would have been perfect! I really dont care that this guy stole currency from two stupid employees who have no security. Good for him too bad he is going to jail.
Posted: Mar 23rd 2011 4:01PM Jack Kevorkian said
@Crimsic The article refers to a "him" multiple times so I assume it is a he. Ashely isnt that of an uncommon name for a male.
Reply
Posted: Mar 23rd 2011 3:49PM (Unverified) said
Wow, 2 years of real prison for virtual theft, is it just me or does it seem like the punishment far outweighs the crime?
Posted: Mar 23rd 2011 4:00PM Jack Kevorkian said
@(Unverified) he made $57k real pounds. which is probably over $100Gs USA style.
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Posted: Mar 23rd 2011 3:49PM shimrra74 said
You think he is going to be cyber raped in prison?
Posted: Mar 23rd 2011 4:40PM Uncle Jesse said
@shimrra74
Nothing beats a good ol' fashioned reality rape.
Reply
Nothing beats a good ol' fashioned reality rape.
Posted: Mar 23rd 2011 3:53PM Xsingular said
*Spoiler Alert*
in his third big job (stealing for Farmville) everyone of his crew Cyber-dies
in his third big job (stealing for Farmville) everyone of his crew Cyber-dies
Posted: Mar 23rd 2011 3:54PM Crimsic said
Ocean's 110100101:
Hacker Edition
Hacker Edition
Posted: Mar 23rd 2011 4:03PM Captain Planet Planeteer Power said
@Crimsic
WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER
+ 01101111 01101110 01100101
Reply
WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER
+ 01101111 01101110 01100101
Posted: Mar 23rd 2011 3:58PM bloodlinejake said
Hack the shit out of Zynga.
Posted: Mar 23rd 2011 4:01PM oOWallaceOo said
I'd like to unzip Cyber Julia Roberts
Posted: Mar 23rd 2011 4:03PM CaptainProtonX said
He just didn't know when to cyber-hold'em, know when to cyber-fold'em, and to cyber-walk away, and know when to cyber-run.
Posted: Mar 23rd 2011 6:01PM Batzarro The worlds WOrst Detect said
I don't get the resold part. He sold the game's fun-money? Or his fun-money imbued account?
Posted: Mar 23rd 2011 6:42PM BlueRajasmyk said
lulz, why isn't the real news written like this?
Posted: Mar 23rd 2011 7:08PM The Only Girl said
...People play on Zynga?
Posted: Mar 23rd 2011 7:19PM ShadowXIII said
Its Zynga so....who exactly is the bad guy here?
Posted: Mar 23rd 2011 8:17PM Yothe said
Everyone knows to do cyber-heists at Mcdonalds.
Posted: Mar 23rd 2011 8:19PM JimRome said
Nice touch at the end with the hollywood babble on style credits
Posted: Mar 23rd 2011 9:31PM (Unverified) said
Didnt he sell it to people who willingly bought that virtual currency from him though? If so, it's true that he made a profit, but it's not like he stole their money. It just doesnt seem like that big of a deal to me...
Posted: Mar 23rd 2011 10:05PM ChillyWilly said
@(Unverified) So if you steal a painting and then sell it to willing buyers, you make a profit, but it' not that big of a deal?!? Technically even the buyers can be prosecuted if they knew it was stolen [virtual] goods they were buying.
Reply
Posted: Mar 23rd 2011 10:00PM Uracat said
Unsecured wi-fi connection? Does that simply mean that they did not have a wep or wpa encryption key protecting their network? I'm not sure how connecting to an unsecured network like that would give him away, but i'm also no expert.
Posted: Mar 23rd 2011 10:01PM ChillyWilly said
I know the police cybercrime divisions can do some amazing forensics, but I still don't unerstand exactly how they caught him. Couldn't he point the finger at another neighbor and say "Wasn't me. Must have been a different neighbor." How can they be certain it was him?
Posted: Mar 23rd 2011 10:08PM (Unverified) said
@ChillyWilly That's just it though. The guy didnt really "steal" anything tangible, it's just some virtual currency. People steal money from actual players all the time on WoW and they aren't being persecuted, as far as I know anyway. I dunno, I guess I just dont understand the gravity of the situation like everyone else here seems to lol.
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Posted: Mar 24th 2011 5:18PM havok37 said
Damn, that sucks for Cyber Danny Ocean. If he was savvy enough to hijack some Zynga employee accounts, you think he would be able to cover his tracks better. Oh well.
Posted: Mar 25th 2011 11:44PM JCDoe said
I know a guy who is serving 5 years for embezzelment of about $2.5 mil. So that's about 0.000002 years per dollar. At that rate, $100k should equal about two tenths of a day . . .
Wait, does that add up for anyone else?
Wait, does that add up for anyone else?
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