*I can remember computer-security maven Donn Parker publicly predicting
this behavior seventeen years ago. I was all impressed at the time, too.
"Gosh, desktop forgery, gee, why not, why wouldn't they? How darkly plausible!"
*I wonder if this hapless small-scale malefactor ever heard of "desktop forgery."
Very likely not. He probably scanned a train ticket on a lark, saw it pass through
the system, thought cheerily, "blimey, that's not hard at all," and became
another drop in the bucket of a 400-million-pound problem.
RISKS DIGEST:
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 2009 05:46:49 -0400 (EDT)
From: [email protected] (Mark Brader)
Subject: Man forged 12,500 pounds worth of train tickets
Jonathan Moore of Hove, England, described as an "IT expert", has been
sentenced for using a computer to forge 12,472 pounds worth of train tickets
that he used for his daily commute to London. The ongoing fraud was
eventually detected by a ticket inspector who noticed that Moore's ticket
was not quite the right color. Designs for over 70 tickets were found on
his laptop.
According to the customer services director at the train operating company,
"It is a tribute to our quick-witted staff that this thief was caught out.
Fare dodgers are robbing the rail industry of 400 million pounds a year."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/sussex/8287111.stm
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6858680.ece
