Pranknet
DDoS attacks |
Pranknet, also known as Prank University,
Posing as
In 2009, a wave of the pranks across the United States prompted internal alerts by Choice Hotels, as well as advisories by the Sheriff's office of Orange County, Florida, and others.[7] At that time, law enforcement officials from a number of jurisdictions and the Federal Bureau of Investigation began investigating the various incidents as well as the identity of "Dex".[4][5]
Technology
Pranknet initially operated through a chat room at Pranknet.org, and participants used Skype to make their calls. As of 2009[update], Skype used encryption and obfuscation of its communication services and provided an uncontrolled registration system for users without proof of identity, making it difficult to trace and identify users.[8] After Skype began an internal investigation, Pranknet left Skype and briefly used Paltalk for its chats and calls. However, Paltalk banned Pranknet after a February 2009 KFC incident. After Pranknet users were banned from Paltalk, the company was subjected to multiple DDoS attacks.[6] Beginning in 2009, members chatted before, during, and after each prank via the chat system of Beyluxe Messenger, which is owned and operated in Romania, and thus outside of North America. Audiences ranged from 40 to 200 people at any given time.
Pranks that created sufficient havoc were posted on YouTube.[9] Updates were also provided through a Twitter account.[10]
Notable Pranknet incidents
In February 2009, "Dex" and a member called "Slayer" called a
On February 10, "Dex" and a member called "DTA_Mike", posing as hotel front desk employees, called two separate guests at the Best Western hotel in Shillington, Pennsylvania. Using the pretense of a ruptured gas line, the caller persuaded each guest to break a window and then throw the television out. "Dex" and his friend repeated the same stunt on February 19 with a Best Western in Santee, California.[6]
On April 30, a Pranknet member called "Rollin in the A" called Prejean's Restaurant in
On May 27, "Dex" called a
On June 6, 2009, a prank was made on a
In July, a Pranknet member called a
Also in July, a Pranknet caller informed two hotel guests that deadly spiders were about to infest their room. The caller was able to manipulate the couple into breaking their window with the tank lid from their toilet.[10]
On July 5, Pranknet members Powell and Markle called an Arby's in Baytown, Texas (where Powell lives) and talked a worker there into triggering the fire suppression system, causing an estimated $4,600 in damages. Powell failed in his attempts to get any windows broken.[6] Powell was later arrested and charged with criminal mischief for the incident.[15]
On July 20, Markle tricked a desk clerk at the
Additionally, an employee at a Holiday Inn Express was persuaded by a Pranknet caller to set off a fire alarm, break windows, and set off sprinklers which flooded the building. Damages were estimated at $50,000.[9]
The Smoking Gun reported that Pranknet leader "Dex" was responsible for an October 21 hoax in which he phoned ESPN reporter Elizabeth Moreau, tricking her into breaking windows in her room at the Hilton Garden Inn in Gainesville, Florida. He then initiated a conference call with a front desk employee at the hotel, where he then claimed he was Moreau's boyfriend and that the damage was a result of them fighting, as well as making a number of vulgar statements.[19] As a result of the hoax, a Gainesville Police detective was assigned to the case.[19]
In November 2010, an elderly man staying at a
On December 5, 2010, two Pranknet members identified by The Smoking Gun collaborated to humiliate an Iraq War veteran, 22, at a Motel 6 in Amarillo, Texas. One, posing as the hotel receptionist, informed him that the prior occupant of his room had been diagnosed with "
On January 9, 2011, a Holiday Inn in Omaha, Nebraska, was targeted. Taking advantage of the ability to call guests of the hotel directly, the prankster pretended to be a Fire Department employee reading instructions from a computer checklist to prevent an explosion from a gas leak. These instructions included to "break the red glass vial in the sprinkler", leading to $115,000 in water damage in seven guest rooms and a conference room. The guest was also persuaded to rip a mirror from his wall to find the (non-existent) shutoff valve.[22]
Phone and computer hijacking
Beginning in July 2009, "Dex" began hijacking
On July 7, "Dex" took over incoming calls of the Olympic Game Farm in
Talking hotel front desk clerks through a series of steps using TeamViewer, "Dex" has posed as a corporate headquarters IT supervisor and taken remote control of hotel computers.[6]
Craigslist abuse
Pranknet members frequently placed
Smoking Gun investigation
"Dex" and other Pranknet members had regularly taunted victims and others, saying they were untraceable.[6] In an interview with The Smoking Gun on June 17, 2009, "Dex" exhibited no worries about being tracked down or caught. In a July co-interview with Markle, he boasted: "It's too difficult to find me. I'm a ghost on the Internet. I do pretty much everything I can to keep anything out of my computer that would lead it back to my actual computer. I'm not a stupid individual, like I said."[6]
In June 2009, The Smoking Gun launched an investigation that lasted nearly two months and included travel to
Members
According to crime reporting website The Smoking Gun, key members included:
- Tariq Malik, also known as Pranknet leader "Dex" (a tribute to the character Dexter Morgan, a fictional serial killer).[6] In an interview with The Globe and Mail, "Dex" denied he was Malik (but confirmed he is Canadian).[26]
- William Marquis, Pranknet's "second in command".
- James "Tyler" Markle, one of the group's most prolific callers. Markle was already a person of interest in a Lufkin Police investigation involving a phone call to a local McDonald's,[27] and was arrested for this subsequently.[28] The Smoking Gun had based the claim upon information from old MySpace and Facebook pages, and people from the area who identified Markle in photos.[29] The Smoking Gun also published official documents showing that Markle pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault of a child in 2005, serving two years in a juvenile detention facility for having sex with a 5-year-old girl and then threatening to kill her if she told anyone about the incident.[30] In an interview with The Lufkin Daily News, Markle denied that the person described on TSG was him, claiming instead it was another person called the Samoan Prankster.[27] He was charged with felonies in two separate states: for making a felony terroristic threat in the Lufkin McDonald's case and for terrorizing and criminal damage (both felonies) in a separate incident involving a Wendy's restaurant in Gretna, Louisiana.[31] He was later extradited to Louisiana as a result of the charges filed in the Gretna incident.[32] In December 2010, Markle was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment in Texas for the prank call to the Lufkin McDonald's.[33]
- Shawn Powell, previously imprisoned for criminal mischief for his part in a hoax call to the Baytown Arby's restaurant, resulting in the fire suppression system being activated and resulting in $1,350 worth of damage.[15]
- LeeAnn Jordan, who had used her PayPal account to receive international money transfers and to pay for Paltalk.[6]
A former member, Jericho Batsford, left the group in 2009 after the incident in Conway, Arkansas, and contacted local FBI agents.[3] She told them she knew Dex's identity to be that of Malik[3] and that he was responsible for many incidents.[10] In response to her defection, Pranknet members have constantly harassed her home and her workplace via Skype and Beyluxe. Malik told members to be patient, that she would not answer the phone and let them get to her, and to instead "get her later on down the road, when she least expects it."[6] Batsford had participated in some phone pranks, but left when she witnessed members encouraging children to make bomb threats.[3]
Officials in at least four U.S. States and six U.S. cities stated that they were considering charges against "Dex" and his possible extradition from Canada to face trial.[26]
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Elderly Man Falls Victim To Motel 6 Prank". The Smoking Gun. November 23, 2010. Retrieved November 23, 2010.
- ^ "Telephone Terrorist". The Smoking Gun. August 4, 2010. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
- ^ a b c d Lamb, Joe (June 12, 2009), "CPD investigating prank call", The Log Cabin Democrat
- ^ a b Hoyland, Christa (July 14, 2009), "FBI investigating incidents of QSR phone-in vandalism", QSRweb
- ^ a b c Ontario man accused of mass online pranks, CBC News, August 6, 2009, archived from the original on August 9, 2009
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "Outing An Online Outlaw", The Smoking Gun, August 4, 2009
- ^ Leyden, John (August 10, 2009), "Hotel prank call badboy tracked down to mum's flat", The Register
- ^ Biondi, Philippe; Desclaux, Fabrice, "Silver Needle in the Skype" (PDF), blackhat, retrieved August 9, 2009
- ^ a b Leonard, Tom (July 15, 2009), "FBI probes PrankNET over thousands of dollars in damage caused to hotels and restaurants", The Telegraph
- ^ a b c d e f Abrams, Joseph (July 14, 2009), Online Pranksters Wreak Havoc at Hotels, Restaurants Nationwide, Fox News
- ^ a b Wilkinson, Melanie (August 5, 2009), "Hotel prank unraveling, according to Court TV website", York News-Times, archived from the original on August 9, 2009
- ^ Parker Dickerson, Rachel (August 7, 2009), Web Site Unmasks Motel Prankster, KATV, archived from the original on August 10, 2009
- ^ "Alabama Hotel Damaged In Phone Prank". The Smoking Gun. June 18, 2009.
- ^ Beitsch, Rebecca; Edwards, Amy L. (July 9, 2009), "Pranksters strike: Indian River County deputy fooled into breaking hotel window with toilet tank", Orlando Sentinel
- ^ a b "First Pranknet Arrest", The Smoking Gun, August 26, 2009
- ^ Cook, Ashley (August 7, 2009), "Police expand investigation into Diboll man's activities", Lufkin Daily News, archived from the original on August 10, 2009
- ^ Ulber, Emily (August 7, 2009), "Phone prank at south Lexington hotel might be linked to international ring", Lexington Herald-Leader, archived from the original on January 27, 2013
- ^ "Felonious Phone Terrorist Admits, Apologizes For Heinous Hotel Urine Prank". The Smoking Gun. August 9, 2011.
- ^ a b staff (October 25, 2010). "Pranknet Boss Hoaxed ESPN Reporter | The Smoking Gun". The Smoking Gun. Retrieved October 28, 2010.
- ^ "Stop Us If You've Heard This Before: Prank Caller Dials A Motel 6 Guest..." The Smoking Gun. March 11, 2011.
- ^ "Vile Phone Prank Pulled On Iraq Vet". The Smoking Gun. December 14, 2014.
- ^ "Hotel Prank Causes $115,000 In Damages". The Smoking Gun. January 15, 2011.
- ^ Chen, Dalson (August 4, 2009), "Ontario man leader of notorious U.S. pranksters, website claims", The Vancouver Sun
- ^ "Telephone Terrorist". The Smoking Gun. 21 July 2010. Retrieved February 14, 2011.
- ^ Staff (April 29, 2016), "The prank call crimewave", BBC.com
- ^ a b Verma, Sonya (August 8, 2009), "Out-of-line pranksters take cover online", The Globe and Mail
- ^ a b Cook, Ashley (August 6, 2009), "Diboll man alleged to be prankster says it's not him", Lufkin Daily News, archived from the original on August 10, 2009
- ^ Prank phone call caused $5,000 to McDonald's, KTRE (Lufkin), September 9, 2009
- ^ Phillips, Christel (August 7, 2009), National Web site fingers Diboll teen as prankster, KTRE
- ^ "Another Pranknet Child Molester", The Smoking Gun, August 6, 2009
- ^ "Second Pranknet Member Arrested", The Smoking Gun, September 9, 2009
- ^ Phillips, Christel (September 24, 2009), ""Prankster" Extradited", KTRE (Lufkin)
- ^ "Degenerate Phone Prankster Receives Severe Dose Of Texas Justice", The Smoking Gun, December 2, 2010