Crime Stories for 2021

China Created AI 'Prosecutor' That Can Charge People With Crimes 79
Google Scans Gmail and Drive For Cartoons of Child Sexual Abuse 146
New Policing System Will Send Drones To the Source of Gunshots 170
US Returns $154 Million In Bitcoins Stolen By Sony Employee 37
2021 Had Six Different Cryptocurrency Heists Over $100 Million 55
Boston Police Bought Spy Tech With a Pot of Money Hidden From the Public 63
Crypto Scam Revenue Up 81% in 2021, Hits $7.7 Billion: Chainalysis 17
Ukraine Arrests 51 For Selling Data of 300 Million People In US, EU 11
Judges Read Capitol Rioters' Social Media Posts, Gave Them Stricter Sentences 424
Data on Tens of Thousands of South Australian Government Employees Breached in Ransomware Attack 20
Another Crypto Heist: $150M+ Stolen from Trading Platform BitMart 59
Apple AirTags Being Used By Thieves To Track High-End Cars To Steal 42
US Indicts Two Men for Running a $20 Million YouTube Content ID Scam 28
India Police Charge Amazon Execs In Alleged Marijuana Smuggling Case 41
Canadian Police Arrest Teen For Stealing $36.5 Million In Cryptocurrency 18
How Fraudsters Exploit Popular Interest-free Payment Plans 38
Increasingly Popular Ghost Guns Fuel an 'Epidemic of Violence', says NYT 344
Truckload of GPUs Stolen On Their Way Out of San Francisco 76
US Charges Ukrainian, Russian, Over Cyberattack, Seizes $6 Million in Ransom Payments 13
A US/Foreign Government Operation Hijacked the Servers of a Major Ransomware Gang 24
The Booming Underground Market for Bots That Steal Your 2FA Codes 91
What Happens When You Use Bluetooth Tags to Track Your Stolen Items? 166
Teen Bought Google Ad for His Scam Website and Made 48 Bitcoins Duping UK Online Shoppers 37
FBI Raids Chinese Point-of-Sale Giant PAX Technology 35
150 People Arrested in International Darknet Opioid Probe 30
Why The FBI Held Back a Ransomware Decryption Key for 19 Days 53
Aggressive US Marketers are Bringing Police Surveillance Tools to the Masses 112
Man Arrested For Uncensoring Japanese Porn With AI In First Deepfake Case 73
Man Arrested for Scamming Amazon's Textbook Rental Service Out of $1.5 Million 106
Los Angeles Police Declare Ghost Guns an 'Epidemic,' Citing 400% Increase in Seizures 443
Ransomware Summit Eyes Tighter Global Scrutiny for Crypto 22
Former Boeing 737 MAX Chief Technical Pilot Indicted For Fraud 146
Facebook To Act on Illegal Sale of Amazon Rainforest 22
Car Thieves Arrested After Using $27,000 Game Boy Device 104
US Department of Justice Creates Cryptocurrency Enforcement Unit 65
Zodiac Expert Calls 'Bullshit' On Possible ID of Zodiac Killer 30
Investors Spent Millions on 'Evolved Apes' NFTs. Then They Got Scammed 52
Ukrainian Cops Cuff Two Over $150 Million Ransomware Gang Allegations, Seize $1.3 Million In Cryptocurrency 8
Call Center-Pranking 'Scambaiters' Amass Millions of Fans on Social Media 85
Ransomware Gangs are Complaining That Other Crooks are Stealing Their Ransoms 49
Report: Boeing Official Expected to Face Criminal Charges Over Fatal Boeing 737 Max Issues 99
Man Who Unlocked Nearly 2 Million AT&T Phones Gets 12 Years In Prison 102
Telegram Emerges as New Dark Web for Cyber Criminals 44
US Judge Sentences Crypto Hedge Fund Scammer To Over Seven Years In Prison 28
US Fines Former NSA Employees Who Provided Hacker-for-Hire Services To UAE 39
SEC Charges App Annie With Securities Fraud in $10 Million Settlement 10
'Every Message Was Copied to the Police': the Daring Sting Behind the An0m Phone 105
County IT Supervisor Mined Bitcoin At the Office, Prosecutors Say 85
Smartphone Company Alleged To Be a Scam Defrauding 300 Investors of $10 Million 23
AI-Powered Tech Put a 65-Year-Old in Jail For Almost a Year Despite 'Insufficient Evidence' 98
$97 Million Stolen From Japanese Crypto Exchange 44
Google Says Geofence Warrants Make Up One-Quarter Of All US Demands 55
A CyberSecurity CEO Used Apple's AirTags to Locate His Stolen Scooter 92
Samsung's Leader Is Out of Jail, Allowing US Factory Plans To Move Forward 14
NYPD Secretly Spent $159 Million On Surveillance Tech Since 2007 16
US Prisons Mull AI To Analyze Inmate Phone Calls 69
Samsung Leader Jay Y. Lee Granted Parole, To Leave Prison On Friday 26
Banned Chinese Facial Recognition Technology Was Used in Search for US Protesters 156
Former eBay Supervisor Sentenced To 18 Months in Prison For Cyberstalking Case Targeting Natick Couple 14
A Grandfather Died in 'Swatting' Over His Twitter Handle, Officials Say 141
Police Are Telling ShotSpotter To Alter Evidence From Gunshot-Detecting AI 147
Citizen is Now Paying New Yorkers To Livestream Crimes 56
Serial Swatter Who Caused Death Gets Five Years In Prison 186
UK Man Arrested in Spain for Role in Twitter 2020 Hack 6
Insider Trading Charges Filed Over Long Island Iced Tea's Blockchain 'Pivot' 17
Crypto Scammers Rip Off Billions As Pump-and-Dump Schemes Go Digital 74
A Threat to Privacy in the Expanded Use of License Plate-Scanning Cameras? 149
California Police Officer Plays Taylor Swift Song To Try To Block Video From YouTube 172
Russian Hackers Are Abusing VPNs To Hijack Accounts, US and UK Officials Say 39
Microsoft Engineer Stole $10 Million By Selling Xbox Gift Cards For Bitcoin 45
Texas Court Rules Teens Can Sue Facebook For Its Alleged Role in Their Sex Trafficking 97
French Engineer Claims He's Solved the Zodiac Killer's Final Code 57
Police Arrest Three For Posting 10 Minute Movie Summaries On YouTube 125
Monero Emerges As Crypto of Choice For Cybercriminals 64
How Cybercriminals Almost Stole $1 Billion From Bangladesh's National Bank 49
How a Murderer's Lies Were Exposed by His Cellphone and a Smartwatch 57
Ransomware Attack Targeted Teamsters Union in 2019. But They Just Refused to Pay 149
4+ Years in Prison for Home Security Worker Who Accessed Security Cameras to Spy on Women 107
Man Pleads Guilty to Plotting to Bomb Amazon Data Center 163
FBI Charges Woman With Writing Code For 'Trickbot' Ransomware Gang 38
Tech Scammer Who Fooled Cisco, Microsoft and Lenovo Out of Millions Jailed For Over Seven Years 26
Viral TikTok Video Attracts 2,500 Teenagers to Rowdy California Birthday Party. 175 Arrested 97
UK Police Stumble Upon Bitcoin Mine While Looking For Cannabis Farm 68
Drug Dealer Jailed After Cheese Picture Analysed for Prints 55
Weak Wi-Fi Password May Have Led UK Police to Bust an Innocent Couple 109
Leaked Emails Show Crime App Citizen Is Testing On-Demand Security Force 98
Amazon Extends Moratorium On Police Use of Facial Recognition Software 56
The Bizarre Story of the Man Who Invented Ransomware in 1989 67
Capitol Rioters Identified Using Facial Recognition Software, Cellphone Records - and Social Media Posts 352
Former Netflix IT Executive Convicted of Fraud and Taking Bribes 24
Feds Arrest an Alleged $336M Bitcoin-Laundering Kingpin 73
Signal's Cellebrite Hack Is Already Causing Grief For the Law 109
Police Investigating Arson After Pornhub CEO's Mansion Goes Up In Flames 48
Unreturned VHS Tape 21 Years Ago Leads to Surprise 'Felony Embezzlement' Charge 193
Someone Called the Cops On Their Own Smart Vacuum 48
Post Office Workers Convicted of Theft Due To Faulty Software Have Names Cleared 49
Ransomware Gang Wants To Short the Stock Price of Their Victims 84
How a True-Crime Podcast Led to an Arrest in a 25-Year-Old Cold Case 41
A Tesla Helped Police Track Down a Hate Crime Suspect 78
Detroit Man Sues Police For Wrongfully Arresting Him Based On Facial Recognition 92
US Prosecutor Urges Crack Down on 'the Scourge of Online Scams' 36
US Arrests Suspect Who Wanted To Blow Up AWS Data Center 151
300 Nvidia GPUs Seized After High Speed Boat Chase 24
SEC Accuses Actor of $690 Million Fraud Based on Fake Netflix Deal 32
Twitch Will Ban Users For 'Severe Misconduct' That Occurs Away From Its Site 320
Police Say They Found Mafia Fugitive On YouTube, Posting Cooking Tutorials 33
Parler Referred Violent Content to the FBI 50 Times, Angering Users 175
SF Poop-Testing Startup, Once Compared to Theranos, Charged in $60 Million Fraud Scheme 46
Russian Man Admits Ransomware Plot Against Tesla In Nevada 25
SpaceX Engineer Pleads Guilty To Selling Insider Trading Tips On Dark Web 19
Teen 'Mastermind' Behind the Great Twitter Hack Sentenced To Three Years in Prison 62
Encrypted Messaging Service Cracked by Belgian Police, Followed by Dozens of Arrests 92
US Says John McAfee Indicted Over Fraudulent Cryptocurrency Schemes 40
US Charges Three North Koreans in $1.3 Billion Hacking Spree 29
Losses To Romance Scams Reached a Record $304 Million in 2020 95
270 Addresses Are Responsible for 55% of All Cryptocurrency Money Laundering 88
Darknet Crypto Kingpin JokerStash Retires After Illicit $1 Billion Run 28
Cops Are Playing Music While Citizens Are Filming To Trigger Copyright Filters 230
Amazon's Ring Now Reportedly Partners With More Than 2,000 US Police and Fire Departments 71
Who's Making All Those Scam Calls? 150
Police Dismantle World's 'Most Dangerous' Criminal Hacking Network 31
Dutch COVID-19 Patient Data Sold on the Criminal Underground 9
New Site Extracts and Posts Every Face from Parler's Capitol Hill Insurrection Videos 433
ECB's Christine Lagarde Blasts Bitcoin's Role In Facilitating Money Laundering 126
How Will America's Investigators Identify Capitol Hill Protesters? 353
Singapore Police Can Access COVID-19 Contact Tracing Data For Criminal Investigations 93