Man Behind Phishing Scheme Gets 13 Years in the Slammer

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“Phishing”—or the act of following jam-band Phish across the country tricking people into handing over private data via e-mail—is a serious offense. So serious, in fact, that a 27-year-old Los Angeles man who was found guilty of running a major phishing operation just got sentenced to 13 years in prison.

To be fair, he got 11 years for the phishing thing and another couple years tacked on for having 100 marijuana plants growing at his house, which would actually make the whole “following Phish across the country” angle work much better here. Observe:

At least he wasn’t making Bathtub Gin or drugs that would lead to people Bouncing Around the Room, but 100 pot plants are too many to claim that he was growing them for medicinal use in support of his Down With Disease mantra. Alas, it’ll be a while before he’s Free to make Contact with the outside world. He may at times feel like a Sample in a Jar but he may find that the Simple prison life will give him time to Weigh the decisions he’s made.

Seriously, though, this guy’s actually pretty bad. PCWorld reports:

“Kenneth Joseph Lucas II, of Los Angeles, was one of a total of 100 people arrested by Egyptian and U.S. authorities as part of Operation Phish Phry in 2009, which the Department of Justice (DOJ) said resulted in the highest number of people being charged in a single cybercrime case. The two-year investigation involved the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Electronic Crimes Task Force in Los Angeles and Egyptian law enforcement authorities.”

The DOJ “estimated that the total amount of intended loss was in excess of US$1 million,” says PCWorld.

MORE: Citigroup Admits $2.7 Million of Customers’ Money Stolen Due to Hack