Crime

Chinese Graduate Student Murdered at Virginia Tech

Just two weeks after arriving at Virginia Tech, a 22-year-old graduate student from China was murdered. The alleged killer decapitated her with a kitchen knife at a local coffee shop. The news stunned a student population still reeling from the mass shootings that happened in 2007, perhaps the most famous modern geek tragedy. https://gizmodo.com/shooting-at-virginia-tech-252696 Xin…

Tech News Brian Lam Jan 23

If You Commit a Felony, Don’t Google It or You’ll Go to Jail

Lee Harbert was a San Francisco-based investment banker with a history of DUIs. On Jan. 11, 2005, he killed 55-year-old Gurdeep Kaur in a hit-and-run with his Jaguar. Google got him convicted. 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,…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Jan 19

NYC Cabbie Demands iPod as Payment, Remains at Large

A young woman’s visit to the wondrous(ly dirty) world of New York City was sullied by the loss of her iPod to a cabbie, thanks to big-city intimidation. As the 20-year-old tourist recounts, her credit card was declined due to the cab’s malfunctioning machine, yet the cabdriver refused to accept her explanation and threatened to…

Tech News Dan Nosowitz Jan 17

Harvard Task Force Uncovers Biggest Future Threat to Children Online

Countless laws have been proposed to protect kids online. But now a group of Harvard researchers has published a massive study of online dangers to kids, and apparently “other kids” tops the list. The study grew out of an agreement that social networking site MySpace made with the government last year to investigate possible dangers…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jan 15

Halo 3 Shooter Daniel Petric Convicted of Murder

Daniel Petric, a 17-year-old who was on trial for killing his mom and shooting his dad after being banned from playing Halo 3, has been convicted of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder and other charges.Since writing the original article documenting how Petric broke into his father’s safe to retrieve his copy of Halo 3 while…

Tech News Mark Wilson Jan 12

Police Use Google Street View to Solve Kidnapping Crime

Usually when we hear Google Street View news, it’s over kitty-cat privacy issues or people peeing in the street. But this time around, the mayhem monitor actually helped solve the kidnapping of a young girl. https://gizmodo.com/google-street-view-invades-cats-privacy-265157 Police in Massachusetts were trying to track down a missing 9-year-old girl who had allegedly been kidnapped by her…

Tech News Elaine Chow Jan 8

Fandom Is Unexplained, But Not Explosive, Say UK Police

A bomb scare in the UK turned out to not be the work of a rogue terrorist, but just a fanboy and his homemade props. Police overreaction, or final proof that fandom can be deadly? Essex police arrested a man on Thursday on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon after he had been spotted carrying…

io9 Graeme McMillan Jan 4

Teen with Home Chemistry Lab Arrested for Meth, Bombs

A Canadian college student majoring in chemistry built himself a home lab – and discovered that trying to do science in your own home quickly leads to accusations of drug-making and terrorism. Lewis Casey, an 18-year-old in Saskatchewan, had built a small chemistry lab in his family’s garage near the university where he studies. Then…

io9 Annalee Newitz Dec 27

Fry’s Electronic Store VP Allegedly Embezzled $65 Million For Gambling Debts, Probably Pocketed Some Slim Jims and an Odwallas Too

Fry’s VP Ausaf Umar Siddiqui has been accused by the IRS of taking $65 million of Fry’s company money to “fuel his lavish lifestyle and pay off gambling debts.” Siddiqui’s downfall came when another exec found a spreadsheet with backroom deals for contracts (he was a buyer for Fry’s). He’d then get vendors to sell…

Tech News Jason Chen Dec 23

T-Mobile Blocks Stolen Cellphone Tracking Despite Victim, Cops’ OK

T-Mobile is refusing to track stolen cellphones despite having the permission of both Boston police AND the victim whose phone was stolen, citing “privacy restrictions.” According to the Boston Herald, T-Mobile will only help track the stolen phone (a Sidekick, snatched from a 16-year-old by an 18-year-old) if it’s a “life or death situation”, or…

Tech News Jason Chen Dec 23

Science Fiction Solves the Mystery of Jack the Ripper

Click to viewThe case of Jack the Ripper has never been solved, leaving us to wonder who he was, why he committed his crimes, and why the killings suddenly stopped. Here’s how science fiction solved the case. He’s an Alien Star Trek “Wolf in the Fold”: Psycho author Robert Bloch reinterprets one of his favorite…

io9 Lauren Davis Dec 17

Burglar Held Hostage By Ghost

A Malaysian burglar claims he was held hostage by a supernatural figure for three days without food or water in a haunted house while the residents were on vacation. The owners found the 36-year-old man dehydrated and fatigued and had to call an ambulance to send him to the hospital. This just goes to prove…

io9 Meredith Woerner Dec 16

Fingerprinting a Bullet the Bond Way

Well, the John Bond way that is. Bond, the head of forensics at the Northamptonshire Police in the UK, has devised a way to fingerprint bullets with electricity. He discovered that the extreme heat that occurs when firing a gun causes salt from a fingerprint to slightly corrode the casing. By zapping it with electricity…

Tech News Sean Fallon Dec 12

UK Police Want “Crime Breathalyzers” For PCs

The UK police have a dream that one day, even the most technologically illiterate in their ranks can pop a device into a computer that will automatically flag illegal activity on the hard drive. Charlie McMurdie, architect of the UK’s Police Central E-crime Unit (PCeU), said that it would be ideal if the device were…

Tech News Sean Fallon Dec 11

NASA Computer Used to Ruin a Businessman’s Credit

A software engineer/landord with high-level security clearance has been charged with stealing the identity of David Welch, a former tenant, using a NASA computer at the Kennedy Space Center. Apparently, 33 year old Kevin Landivar had a dispute with Welch over $200 in back rent and decided to “harass” him by using his personal information…

Tech News Sean Fallon Dec 11

Pseudo-Science Pays Well – Until You Go to Jail

Today a San Francisco “psychic” named Lisa Marie Miller (pictured) was sentenced to two months in jail after convincing a woman she had a “curse” that could only be cured by buying Miller a Corvette. Obviously, the fake-psychic-turned-investigator from The Mentalist chucked a pretty lucrative job when he went straight. Miller had sucked over $100…

io9 Annalee Newitz Dec 10

Does the Full Moon Really Make People Crazy?

Tonight is the full moon, and according to several scientific studies that means you’re far more likely to be the victim of a crime or creamed in an accident. I’d always assumed it was an urban legend that the full moon coincided with a rise in human weirdness. But some scientists believe there is factual…

io9 Annalee Newitz Nov 13

Craigslist Armored Truck Thief Gets Nabbed

You may recall a story a couple of months ago about a man who successfully robbed an armored car by hiring decoys on Craigslist, then fled the scene by floating down the Skykomish River in Washington on a inner tube. It’s a great heist story—straight out of the climactic scene in the Thomas Crown Affair.…

Tech News Sean Fallon Nov 7

Identity Theft Harder than Ever to Prevent

With so many companies leaking your personal information, it’s more and more likely that you’ll get your identity stolen at some point. But a new report from the US government reports that law enforcement is lagging way behind on convictions for identity theft. In fact, say officials, convicting an identity thief is almost impossible. Things…

io9 Annalee Newitz Oct 23

Presenting the Latest in ATM Scam Gear: The SMS-Sending Card Skimmer

NYC is full of ATMs. It’s one of the great things about living in this city—you’re never more than a block or two away from cash. But a large, large percentage of NYC’s ATMs are cut-rate bodega models that look like your card could catch something nasty from them once dipped. Helping spread the nasty…

Tech News John Mahoney Oct 10

Chinese Graduate Student Murdered at Virginia Tech

If You Commit a Felony, Don’t Google It or You’ll Go to Jail

NYC Cabbie Demands iPod as Payment, Remains at Large

Harvard Task Force Uncovers Biggest Future Threat to Children Online

Halo 3 Shooter Daniel Petric Convicted of Murder

Police Use Google Street View to Solve Kidnapping Crime

Fandom Is Unexplained, But Not Explosive, Say UK Police

Teen with Home Chemistry Lab Arrested for Meth, Bombs

Fry’s Electronic Store VP Allegedly Embezzled $65 Million For Gambling Debts, Probably Pocketed Some Slim Jims and an Odwallas Too

T-Mobile Blocks Stolen Cellphone Tracking Despite Victim, Cops’ OK

Science Fiction Solves the Mystery of Jack the Ripper

Burglar Held Hostage By Ghost

Fingerprinting a Bullet the Bond Way

UK Police Want “Crime Breathalyzers” For PCs

NASA Computer Used to Ruin a Businessman’s Credit

Pseudo-Science Pays Well – Until You Go to Jail

Does the Full Moon Really Make People Crazy?

Craigslist Armored Truck Thief Gets Nabbed

Identity Theft Harder than Ever to Prevent

Presenting the Latest in ATM Scam Gear: The SMS-Sending Card Skimmer

Indie Animation Is Having a Moment on YouTube

Trump’s World Liberty Financial Makes FTX-esque Move, Borrows Against Its Own Crypto Token

Steven Soderbergh Wanted to Take ‘Bond’ Back to the ’60s

If You Make Fart Music, ChatGPT Will Be the Most Supportive Girlfriend You Could Ask For

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