Seattle ID thief gets three years

A MAN IN SEATTLE has been sentenced to a stretch in prison following his conviction for stealing the identities of unsuspecting Internet users.

Frederick Eugene Wood was accused of using peer-to-peer software to hoover up personal data that he then apparently used to perpetrate a lot of financial frauds. Woods capitalised on the fact that many parents didn't realise that their offspring had downloaded file-sharing software and left their PC files wide open.

Wood managed to find at least 120 families who never suspected their children might do such things - presumably the same parents whose kids have never smoked or looked at naughty pictures online - and he stole a whole whack of their personal information. He was accused of using their data to commit various small-time financial frauds.

In court he was prosecuted for aggravated identity theft, fraud and computer crimes. He told investigators, "kids put Limewire on the computer and the parents don't know".

Prosecutors added that he had also been involved in a Craiglist scam that saw PC buyers receive boxes of rocks. He might also have taught another jailbird how to carry out identity thefts.

Wood was sent up for three years porridge. We suspect he's not the only person who got grounded out of these events. µ