Extradited VoIP hacker sentenced to 10 years

Edwin Pena, 26, of Venezuela, was also ordered to pay more than $1 million in restitution for the conspiracy, prosecutors said Friday in a news release. Pena operated two companies that offered wholesale internet-based phone services for heavily discounted rates. Instead of purchasing voice over internet protocol (VoIP) routes to resell, he hacked into the networks of legitimate VoIP service providers and routed his customers' traffic through the hacked networks.

Pena sold more than 10 million minutes of unauthorized telephone calls and caused more than $1.4 million in damages in less than a year, prosecutors said. To disguise the money he obtained from the conspiracy, he purchased real estate, new cars and a 40-foot motor boat.