When Daniel Thompson, 27, and Idris Kayode Akinwunmi, 21 hacked their way into the UK National Lottery, they no doubt dreamed of untold riches. In their heads, it was probably like Aladdin entering the Cave of Wonders with piles of treasure on all side. What the two hapless hackers got for their troubles was £13 ($16.87 USD) and few months in jail to think about the consequences of this sort of extracurricular activity.
The dynamic duo’s plan started off well enough. Their thought was that they would use a hacking tool called Sentry MBA to make thousands of attempts to log into National Lottery customer accounts. The idea was that they would steal money from those accounts and split the profits. And that’s exactly what they did. For their efforts, the two thieves pulled out a haul of £13. From that haul, Thompson’s cut was £5. ($6.49 USD).
Investigators quickly honed in the two men and, after a brief sidestep to question the man whose computer the hackers used without permission, caught the true criminals. Both men quickly confessed their misdeeds and were ultimately brought before a magistrate to receive their punishments (though Batson briefly claimed no knowledge of the matter). Despite the low numbers involved, both men received nine month jail sentences for their efforts.
In a statement reported on by the Birmingham Mail, Akinwunmi described the crime saying, “I was just being silly and naïve really…It was just a naïve act to make a little bit of cash.”
NCA senior investigating officer Lauren Morgan had a different take saying, ““No one should think cyber crime is victimless or that they can get away with it. Even the most basic forms of cyber crime can have substantial impacts on victims. The NCA will purse and identify offenders and any conviction can be devastating to their futures.”