Ralsky and his cohorts netted millions from pump and dump stock scams which were bolstered by their spamming. He pleaded guilty in June and will be serving time along with his son, who was sentenced to 40 months. [Ars Technica]

To catch the man who's suspected of killing a young British woman in March 2007 and hasn't been spotted in 19 months, Tokyo police's latest ploy is a life-sized cardboard cutout of Tatsuya Ichihashi.

The Japanese twist you're looking for is that pressing a button on the cutout plays an audio clip of Ichihashi talking. Oh, and they've only made five of them. And two of them will chill out in the police station, meaning only three will be scattered around the city. And this is all after disseminating thousands of posters showing what Ichihashi would look like in drag.

Man, I feel utterly horrible for this poor girl's family. [Times Online via Crave Image: AFP Photo/Yoshikazu Tsuno]

She knew she didn't send any email, so she opened the attachment, which was a self-portrait her attacker emailed to himself. She forwarded the picture to police, who quickly matched it to a mug shot of Dacquan Mathis.

Fukuda made the not so bright move of emailing Mathis directly, telling him the cops were onto him. He cheerfully replied to her, "I will kill you! I know where you live, I know where you work. I'll send people."

But we all know how this ends—the cops busted him, and he confessed to jacking the iPhone as well as another mugging involving an iPod.

Moral of the story: Whenever you steal a piece of technology, make sure you know how it works, or you'll get made fun of on a bunch of blogs. Oh yeah, and go to jail and stuff. [NY Post via Gothamist - Thanks Ace!]

The subs aren't really subs, they always have a portion of the ship above water. But at less than 18 inches of height above sea level, they're hard to detect using radar, despite being anywhere from 40-80 feet, carrying from 4-12 tons of the white stuff and 4 people. (Or none if being remote controlled!) They are reported to go slow and steady using diesel engines and up to 1500 gallons of fuel. They can make the trip at 6-12 knots in a single tank. As if they could refuel anywhere. The ships take over a year to make from fiberglass/wood or steel, and cost $2m. Not a whole lot of money since one load can take almost $200m of cargo from Ecuador to San Diego.

Here's a worrying thought:
"...if you can move that much cocaine, what else can you put in that semi-submersible. Can you put a weapon of mass destruction in it?" Navy Adm. Jim Stavridis, Commander, U.S. Southern Command

They've got a team of superfriends involved with the hunt:

Symantec, F-Secure, VeriSign, Afilias, Internet Systems Consortium (ISC), and the Shadowserver Foundation.

The worm itself is dangerous, although it hasn't done any real damage yet. It has infected 15m PCs so far, setting them up for a yet-to-come malicious payload.

Two hard questions come to mind. Why can't the FBI handle this? And wouldn't that money be better spent on PSAs informing users to install the available patch for the vulnerability? Then again, I suppose that they're sending a message to all hackers. Microsoft will buy off your friends, and at least one of them will sell you out. That, and Microsoft is scared of you. [Yahoo via BBG]

Harbert claimed he thought he'd hit a deer, which meant he wouldn't have needed to stop and help the person he mowed down, and police had originally said they were looking for a burgundy Jag, while his was black, so he had no idea what he'd done.

But, when police searched his computer, they found Google searches from a couple days after the accident like, "auto parts, auto dealers out-of-state; auto glass, Las Vegas; auto glass reporting requirements to law enforcement, auto theft," according to the prosecutor. The coup de grace? He searched for "hit-and-run," which he followed to a page about the hit-and-run he committed.

The judge sentenced Harbert to three years (that's it?). Harbert appealed, and got his argument smacked down last week. So remember kids, don't search for a crime you recently committed, or at least do it on someone's computer. [Cnet]

Tired of yuppy scum and their fruitphones, a bunch of scammers posted bulk cases of iPhones at deep discounts on Craigslist, luring hip grandfathers and yupsters alike to "desolate locations in Flatbush, East Flatbush and Flatlands" in NY. Upon arrival, they were mugged at gunpoint by the gang of four, who stole thousands of dollars from as many as 12 suckers victims before getting busted June 4 by undercover cops. Remember kids, the only legit discounts come from Apple, real iPhones from real people cost real scratch (for now, anyway). [NY Post]

Security specialists at F-Secure have drawn up a report with three maps that create—perhaps unintentionally—a compelling narrative of the way malware reflects the changing economic situation around the globe.

Back in the day (1986 to 2003), computer viruses mainly came from developed, predominantly white regions, US, Europe and Australia, along with India. There were anomalies like the Philippines-originated "Love Bug," but by and large, it seemed computer viruses could be chalked up as a by-product of the technological success of the post-industrial world. The hackers themselves were effete, tea-sipping "hobbyists," out to perfect their skills—not steal millions.
Next came the pros from Eastern Europe, China and Brazil. For the past four or five years, it's been a full-on assault from the regions where high-level computer skills are plentiful, but legit employment opportunities like those found at Redmond, Mountain View or Cupertino are slim to none. Broadband roll-out and a border-free internet have given these guys plenty of opportunities for targeted attacks with cash money—okay, credit-card and bank-account info—as the deliberate end result.In the future, though, new e-criminals will most likely operate out of regions that seem a bit more surprising, such as Mexico and Africa. Part of the reason is that internet usage is fast increasing in those areas, while the requisite IT job growth or technological-age legal system that naturally keep the ruffians in check are not developing as fast. Pour a little political discord on top of that, and you've got one hell of a haven for hackers.

India will also see a resurgence in criminal activity, mainly because the job opportunities will never keep up with the number of people being trained with high-level computer skills, in spite of the country's rapid growth.[F-Secure]

The robber shouted at the employee not to answer the phone, not knowing that the Bluetooth headset was voice-activated and turned on when shouted at. The person on the other end of the line was able to hear the shouting and call the police, who eventually got the guy to release his hostage (but not before ramming his gun own into his forehead until he bled). Long story short, Bluetooth headsets saved the day. [Dispatch]

Once one of these babies has been attached to a bad guy's car, the fuzz can sit back and watch him run away on their GPS screens, catching him at their leisure. Great for the cops and all the rest of us, but not good for the ratings of local TV newscasts. Guess it's back to covering a cat stuck up a tree for them. The new program, to be tested with just a few cars at first, will go a long way toward eliminating those murderously dangerous high-speed pursuits.

LAPD to test the use of GPS darts to end high speed chases [GPS Reviews and News]