Ikia Talbert

CSCI 101 D1 SP19

Professor McCallum

Annotated Bibliography

Cyber Crimes

Being the date and age where technology is the most used form of communication, social

interactions and integrations, there is with no doubt the adverse effects of negative connotations

throughout this popular item.

A Byte Out of History: $10 Million Hack. (2016, December 20). Retrieved February 22, 2019, from

https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/a-byte-out-of-history-10-million-hack

An article called A Byte out of History, talks about a case in 1994 where a computer scammer in

St. Petersburg, Russia hacked into a major U.S. bank and stole money out of accounts. $400,000 was

discovered missing from account holders, the hacker targeted a specific computer system that allows

customers to move funds from one account to another. This was done by compromising bank users’

usernames and passwords. The FBI stated that while conducting the interview they identified 40 illegal

transactions in the banks system leading to foreign accounts over the course of 4 months. An U.S.

account where some of the money was deposited was pinpointed and identified as the “Scam account”.

The owners of the account where identified as a Russian couple who previously lived in the states, the

wife then flew to the U.S. to withdrawal the stolen money from the suspected account and was later

arrested along with her husband. The couple admitted to working for Vladimir Levin out of a computer

firm based out of Russia. Russian authorities teamed with the FBI and arrested Levin in 1995 where he

was extradited to the U.S. and plead guilty in 1998. This case is considered the first online bank robbery,
after this case banks and the FBI began expanding cybercrime horizons and using tools and techniques

to help investigate high tech crimes.

Cybercrime. (n.d.). Retrieved February 16, 2019, from https://www.interpol.int/Crime-

areas/Cybercrime/Cybercrime

INTERPOL states that “Cybercrime is a fast-growing area of crime. More and more criminals are

exploiting the speed, convenience and anonymity of the Internet to commit a diverse range of criminal

activities that know no borders, either physical or virtual, cause serious harm and pose very real threats

to victims worldwide.” Also stated was two main types of internet related crimes. The two specific types

were Advanced cybercrimes - attacks against computer hardware and software and cyber enabled

crimes. Which are internet crimes such as crimes against children, financial crimes and even terrorism.

The main role of the INTERPOL is to prevent these crimes from happening. Any law enforcement agency

can use this partner for investigating crimes on a global scale.

Johnson, T. (2018, March 12). Get hit by internet crime? Good luck getting help from some local police.

Retrieved February 21, 2019, from https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/crime/article204428449.html

A recent article published by Tim Johnson, states that a surge in cybercrime has local police

agencies unprepared. A woman by the name of Maggie Irizarry was scammed of $1,300 by hackers who

managed to sneak into her computer, her local police station wanted nothing to do with the case, her

only resource was to ask her credit card company and her bank for her recovering losses. She was

scammed by supposed Microsoft workers working on her computer for $300, who then overcharged her

card $1000 and telling her to buy gift cards in 100 denominations. She soon figured out it was a scam

and contacted the police.

With thousands of people encountering being victims of these cybercrimes, only about 15

percent of victim’s report cases to law enforcement. Most local agencies aren’t equipped enough to
track down cybercrime partakes, leaving victims to feel they have nowhere else to turn. Some cases are

reported to the FBI, which they often prioritize the major cases. In 2016 the Internet Crime Compliant

Center received over 200,000 complaints, totaling a loss of more than $1.3 billion.

LeBlanc, P. (2017, June 16). The text messages that led up to teen's suicide. Retrieved February 16, 2019,

from https://www.cnn.com/2017/06/08/us/text-message-suicide-michelle-carter-conrad-

roy/index.html

When talking about Cybercrimes, a major case that comes to mind is the Michelle Carter and

Conrad Roy, this case can also relate to cyberbullying as well. In July of 2014 18-year-old Conrad Roy

committed suicide with the help of his long-distance girlfriend Michelle Carter. The two had been

exchanging text messages for weeks prior leading to the suicide. Conrad did try to harm his self on

previous accounts, and he did fail. A brief summary of the messages exchanged between Carter and Roy

paved the way to his final days. On June 19th, 2014 he states his suicidal thoughts to Cater, which she

tells him that she should seek medical help, which he replies “It doesn’t help. Trust me” and “I can’t get

better I already made my decision”. A couple of days later, June 23td the couple exchanged messages

where Roy mentioned how he wanted to harm him self and Carter pleaded with him to not, she stated

“What is harming yourself gonna do!? Nothing! It will make it worse!” and Roy replied, “Make the pain

go away like you said”. The day of July 7th the conversation started with Carter telling Roy how she’d

handle the situation in his shoes, stating that “I would get help. That's just me tho. When I have a

serious problem like that my first instinct is to get help because I know I can't do it on my own”, later

giving him the idea that carbon dioxide would be the best way for him to make his departure. July 8th

seems like the initial date where Carter seemed to be pushing Roy more to the decision of his suicide, in

their message exchange she mentioned to him about being sure if that night was going to ne the final

night, where he decides to “ do it” because “I’ll stay up with you if you wanna do it tonight”. He brushed

off the conversation, saying how “another night would hurt” and Carter responds, “You can’t keep
pushing it off, tho, that’s all you keep doing”. The final day of July 12, numerous messages were

exchanged between Carter and Roy, he talked with her about how his family would be impacted by the

situation that he was about to leave them in, she told Conrad to relax and that he was “overthinking”

again, She ten states to Conrad, “Conrad. I told you I'll take care of them. Everyone will take care of

them to make sure they won't be alone, and people will help them get thru it. We talked about this,

they will be okay and accept it. People who commit suicide don't think this much and they just do it”. He

told her that he was confused and really didn’t know what was taking him so long to execute his death,

which she replies that he’s making it way harder on himself then it should be. The final exchange

between Carter and Roy is this day, he makes his way to a parking lot where he committed suicide by

carbon dioxide. On July 13th is when Conrad Roy’s body was found in his vehicle.

Newtek - The Small Business Authority. (2014, July 11). How To Prevent Cyber Crime. Retrieved February

20, 2019, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/thesba/2013/08/28/how-to-prevent-cyber-

crime/#5e4fddecfffd

Forbes published an article titled “How to prevent cybercrime” which gives tips and suggestions

on how to not become a victim of this seemingly rising problem. The first preventative step that is listed

is to educate yourself and train, make sure to know the “ins and outs” of the information you are

dealing with. Secondly, secure your computer, assets and networking. Keeping your information secure

and private is a very important aspect.

Press, M. B. (2017, April 24). Russian Man Sentenced to 27 Years in U.S. Cybercrime Case. Retrieved

February 16, 2019, from https://www.forensicmag.com/news/2017/04/russian-man-sentenced-27-

years-us-cybercrime-case

This article speaks specifically about a Russian scammer named Roman Seleznev, who given the

longest sentence ever imposed for a U.S. cybercrime. Seleznev was sentenced to 27 years for hacking
into businesses computers and stealing millions in credit card information which he then sold online. He

was found guilty of 38 chargers including wire fraud and hacking. Seleznev lead this scam for 15 years,

stealing from hundreds of business for more than $170 million. After his conviction to show that he was

committed to helping solve more cyber cases, Seleznev gave the U.S. government his personal laptops,

flash drives and personal information to help officials, the government then stated that his opposition to

help came too late.

Reporting Computer, Internet-related, Or Intellectual Property Crime. (2018, December 18). Retrieved

February 16, 2019, from https://www.justice.gov/criminal-ccips/reporting-computer-internet-related-

or-intellectual-property-crime

The Department of Justice’s website gives tips and information on reporting internet related

crimes. These crimes should be reported to the authorities at each branch depending on the level of

crime. Each suspected crime has an appropriate reporting law enforcement agency, for example,

computer intrusion should be reported to FBI local office, U.S. Secret Service or Internet Crime

Compliant Center. Child Pornography or exploitation should also be reported to the same agency’s or if

important, U.S. immigration and custom enforcement. More information on provided crimes and the

appropriate agencies can be seen on the website.

Ryncavage, A., & Ryncavage, A. (2018, August 21). Cyber Crimes and Penalties: A State-By-State List –

Hacker Noon. Retrieved February 23, 2019, from https://hackernoon.com/cyber-crimes-and-penalties-a-

state-by-state-list-aba0891a7dcd

“As seen through Zuck’s testimony to congress, and as bad as it may sound, cyber-related

legislature will continue to be low-priority until i. congress gets a fresh face and ii. America recovers

from its first system-critical attack.” To go without saying, we know that most low-profile cases will go

unrecognized and, in most cases, not even be reported for cybercrimes. This article gives each states law
against cyber crimes and the maximum penalty for this crime as well. In South Carolina code 16-16-10,

against computer crime act will give a penalty of Class B misdemeanor to class E felony. Pennsylvania

considers computer crimes a 3rd degree felony, leading up to 7 years in prison. Texas has the heftiest

penalty against cyber crimes including Class B misdemeanor for up to 180 days in jail plus a $2,000 fine

to first degree felony of up to life in prison. Other states information on penalties and offenses can be

found by visiting the website.

Sanchez, R. (2017, August 03). Woman sentenced to 15 months in texting suicide case. Retrieved

February 20, 2019, from https://www.cnn.com/2017/08/03/us/michelle-carter-texting-suicide-

sentencing/index.html

The previous annotation talked about messages exchanged between Carter and Roy leading up

to his death. Michelle Carter was taken into custody and charged with involuntary manslaughter, she

recently was sentenced to 15 months in prison. In her court hearings the messages exchanged between

her and Conrad were used as evidence. In court the Roy family spoke about the life that Conrad lived,

how they never got to embark on his major life decisions such as getting married and having children.

Conrad’s father stated that Carter “exploited my son's weaknesses and used him as a pawn for her own

interests.”. The parents of Roy also encouraged the idea of supporting a state law that will make

individuals that encourage suicide as guilty of their actions. Carters defense attorney asked for her

sentenced reduced, giving her 5 years of probation with required mental counseling, stating that she

doesn’t pose as a threat to the public and that she has been diagnosed with a disorder and that she

taken anti-depressants. The attorney also states that this is a case that deals with two young people

struggling with mental heath issues. Relating back to the parents of Roy encouraging a law against

assisted suicide, Massachusetts law makers are looking to implement the law that exists in about 40

other states as of today.

(n.d.). Retrieved February 23, 2019, from http://www.iacpcybercenter.org/officers/cyber-crime-

investigations/

The basic steps on how the investigation of cybercrimes are conducted is the central point of

this website. The first step to investigating a cybercrime is assessing the situation, specifics of the crime

must be determined and can charges be sustained. The second step is the actual conduction of the

investigation, asking the question of who, what, where, when and why. The third step of the conduction

is identifying possible evidence. Digital evidence can pose the possibility of possibly being encrypted,

protected or hidden, this type of information must be specifically identified. After this conduction of

information is done, securing the device and getting court orders is next. Seizing of electronic devices is

done, mostly this can be done without court warrant but in some cases a warrant and subpoenas are

needed. The last step for investigating is analyzing the information with prosecutors, which will

ultimately lead to a verdict of the case. Handling a cybercrime case is basically using techniques and

analysis just as officials would use for determining any other legal case.

Cybercrimes are a very upcoming thing that seems to be taking our nation by surprise. With

numerous new cases everyday and thousands of cases going unreported. There are many preventative

ways to look for cybercrimes and ways to report and avoid them happening to you or anyone around

you. Some major cases also may give insight on how cyber crimes can be surpassed. Taking information

from readings and applying them to daily life can show to have helpful benefits. Cybercrimes may not be

avoidable in some situations but knowing where and how to report them may turn out to be a major

play with how they will be handled in the future.