back to article Hacker and chums jailed over gold bullion hack, track 'n' grab scam

A UK hacker who broke into the computer systems to get details of gold bullion deliveries so they could be intercepted and stolen has been jailed for five years and four months. London resident Adam Penny, 25, was jailed this week after previously pleading guilty to conspiracy to steal and a computer misuse offence. Penny …

  1. Little Mouse
    Facepalm

    The toilet cistern?

    Because the police would never think to look there...

    1. Your alien overlord - fear me

      Re: The toilet cistern?

      That's a sh!t place to store anything :-)

    2. GreggS

      Re: The toilet cistern?

      Perhaps flushed with their successes, he thought it would be a good place to hide it.

      There - i said it.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: The toilet cistern?

        They wanted a "Gold Brushed Alu" Macbook but instead settled for the "Brown Stained" one.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Joke

          Re: The toilet cistern?

          That was a crap joke.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    So you could say...

    He is in for A Penny, out for a Pound?

  3. toxicdragon

    Why does this seem familiar?

    He would have gotten away with it if he used a helicopter to track the delivery vans.

  4. adam payne

    The toilet cistern, isn't that the oldest hiding place ever?

    1. phuzz Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Yeah, that's where you'd hide your decoy phone, perhaps the one with the unusual (but still legal) p0rn, so that the police think they've found all of your hidden stuff. The real one should be somewhere completely different (buried in your neighbour's garden perhaps?)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Any hiding place that's seen on a movie should never be used. Even cops who have never found anything in some of those places will check them all, because they know most criminals are stupid.

  5. Prst. V.Jeltz Silver badge
    Paris Hilton

    stand and deliver?

    "they failed to intercept the delivery because the postman knew the victim and refused to hand over the parcel,"

    One wonders what the plan was here , and how it succeeded in the other cases. Did they just hang around outside the address and say "Thanks mate , I'll take this into my premises once you've left"

  6. Khaptain Silver badge

    Ca fait mal

    It seems as though they went through a lot of trouble for very little .

    If the street price was 88000, I can only imagine that they would have been lucky to collect anymore than 15000 from a Jeweler - minus the cost already incurred with logistics etc and the division of the sum between "the chumps" etc they would not have actually made very much..

    5 Years at her Majesties pleasure for such a small sum, ouch.

    1. Robert Helpmann??
      Childcatcher

      Re: Ca fait mal

      These folks are bad at crime and at math(s). £88,000 split four ways gives £22K each successfully gained from 6 attempts which in turn gives an average return of less than £4K each go. Low returns for high risk... better to be a day trader and play that game with someone else's money.

    2. ma1010
      Facepalm

      Re: Ca fait mal

      Thieves often do this sort of thing. They spend a great time and a lot of effort trying to steal something when, if they spent that time and effort on something legitimate, they'd make more money and not get arrested.

      I remember a case of someone spending about two hours to break into a vending machine. He got about $5.00 for his trouble. And went to jail. If he'd spent that two hours time working at a McJob, he would have made more than twice as much money legally. Not too bright.

      Protip: If you haven't any morals and want to make money at computer crime, look for a successful business model and copy it. Ransomware seems to work well.

      1. Captain DaFt

        Re: Ca fait mal

        "Protip: If you haven't any morals and want to make money at computer crime, look for a successful business model and copy it. Ransomware seems to work well."

        Nah, nah, go for banking. Then when you royally fuck up and get caught out, the Government'll pay you to keep doing it!

  7. hi_robb

    Oh Dear

    Did the judge identify who was number one and number two in the gang?

    /Gets coat

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