Former Verizon Employee Pleads Guilty to Running Massive Phone Scamming Ring

Even when hackers are stealing credit card details with malware en masse, and carrying out digital bank heists, there's still money to be made by gaming phone networks.

On Dec 12, a former Verizon employee pleaded guilty to helping run a sophisticated cell phone scam, which involved routing thousands of international calls through hijacked customer accounts. Farintong Calderon, 37, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud; access device fraud; the use, production or possession of modified telecommunications instruments, and the use or possession of hardware or software configured to obtain telecommunications services, according to a press release from the US Department of Justice. According to the indictment against the group, the conspiracy started sometime way back in August 2009, but kept on going right up to February 2013. In short, the allegedly six-man group, of which Calderon was part, got hold of information such as phone numbers and cell phone serial numbers, and then used these details to access people’s accounts. From here, the group could “clone” the victims' phones, charging any calls to a victim's account.