VoIP Hacker Gets 10 Years in Prison for Scam

A man federal authorities said is the first person to be charged with hacking Voice over Internet Protocol [VoIP] providers and reselling hacked VoIP services was handed a 10-year prison sentence today.

Scheme to defraud VoIP telephone service providers

Pena masterminded a scheme to defraud VoIP telephone service providers by posing as a legitimate wholesaler of Internet-based phone services and selling discounted service plans. According to authorities, the reason he was able to offer such low prices is because he would secretly hack into the computer networks of VoIP providers and route his customers' calls.

Through this scheme, Pena sold more than 10 million minutes of Internet phone service to his unsuspecting customers, causing a loss of more than $1.4 million in less than a year. Among his victims was a Newark-based company that transmits VoIP services for other telecom businesses and was billed for more than 500,000 unauthorized telephone calls.