SECRET SERVICE AGENTS ARREST SIX HACKERS IN CELLULAR-PHONE STING IN CYBERSPACE
				By GAUTAM NAIK
		staff reporter of the wall street journal
			c.1995 Wall Street Journal

  NEW YORK - In one of the first sting operations in cyberspace, federal 
agents arrested six computer hackers who allegedly stole  cellular phone 
numbers and sparked millions of dollars in industry losses.
  Undercover agents of the U.S. Secret Service often struggle to catch elusive
hackers who roam the Internet and break into corporate networks.  This time
they turned the tables, setting up the equivalent of a shop for stolen 
property on a "bulletin board" and catching the alleged criminals when they 
took the bait.
'CELCO 51'
  In a seven-satate operation dubbed "Cybersnare," agents set up an 
underground bulletin board - an electronic meeting place - where hackers 
were encouraged to trade tips.  "Celco 51," as the bulletin board was dubbed, 
billed itself as catering to hackers, and cell-phone and credit-card thieves.
  The sting began operating in January, and numerous hackers posted messages, 
including some saying they wanted to fence cell-phone "clonging" equipment 
and stolen cell-phone numbers.  An undercover agent, using the computer alias 
of "Carder One," then posed as an interested buyer and negotiated to purchase 
the illegal gear, having it send to a New Jersey address in return for sending
cash to the suspects.
  But because the alleged crooks posted phone numbers on the bulletin board 
indicating where they could be reached, the Secret Service was able to trace 
the calls, leading to the arrests.  Federal agents seized more than 20 
computer systmes and sophisticated gear typically used by crooks to pluck 
legitimate cellular numbers off the airwaves and clone them on illegal phones.
The industry loses as much as $1 billion annually to cell-phone fraud, 
estimates suggest.
  The six individuals arrested were Richard Lacap of Katy, Texas; Kevin 
Watkins, Houston; Jeremy Cushing, Huntington Beach, Calif.; Frank Natoli, 
Brooklyn, N.Y.; Al Bradford, Detroit; and Michael Clarkson of Brooklyn, 
accoridng to the U.S. Attorney's office in New Jersey.  Mr. Lacap and Mr. 
Watkins each face a maximum of five years in federal prison and $250,000 in 
fines if convicted.  Mr. Cushing would face as much as 10 years in jail and 
$250,000 in fines.
  None of the six could be reached for comment.
HIGH-VOLUME THEIVERY
  Cell-phone bandits usually hide out near heavily trafficked areas such as 
New York's George Washington Bridge and pluck cell-phone numbers off the air 
from passing vehicles.  In this case, however, Secret Service agents found 
that the hackers who dialed into bulletin board had alledgly broken into the 
cellular networks of major companies, such as AT&T Corp., and stolen 600 to 
700 numbers at a time - a daunting type of high-volume thievery.
  "Criminals feel they can operate with impunity in cyberspace.  There's not
enough law-enforcement there, but this is a first step," said Donna A. Krappa,
assistant U.S. attorney for New Jersey, one of the states involved in the 
operation.