Indian-origin hacker gets 51 months jail for computer fraud in US
Darpan News Desk IANS, 24 May, 2023 12:52 PM
ew York, May 24 (IANS) A 38-year-old Indian-origin hacker from Virginia was sentenced to more than four years in prison for hacking into computers and stealing customer credit card numbers.
Chirag Patel from Norfolk pleaded guilty to computer fraud and was sentenced by US District Judge G Murray Snow to 51 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
He also was ordered to pay $87,522.25 in restitution, the US Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona said on Monday.
According to a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), between August 2017 and July 2020, Patel hacked into the Phoenix-based computers of an international hospitality company on numerous occasions.
He then fraudulently transferred and redeemed customer reward points from the company's customer loyalty program.
In addition, Patel also stole credit card numbers and other personally identifying information (PII) from customers and loyalty program members, which were stored in the company's computers.
Patel took screenshots of customers' and members' information, which included credit card numbers and other PII, and saved the screenshots to a Google Drive he controlled.
In total, between August 2017 and July 2020, Patel stole and possessed more than 1,200 credit card numbers, the FBI investigation found.
He used some of the stolen credit card numbers to make unauthorized purchases and also tried to sell some of the stolen credit card numbers.
Emmy Award nominated Indian-American filmmaker Tirlok Malik won the best feature film award as also a special Outstanding Achievement in the Multicultural Arts at the International Film Festival Manhattan.
India born Pakistani social worker Abdul Sattar Edhi on Tuesday refused a donation of Rs.1 crore by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to his charity.
Absconding mafia don Rajendra Sadashiv Nikhalje alias Chhota Rajan, a trusted aide turned bitter foe of mob boss Dawood Ibrahim, has been arrested in the Indonesian resort Bali
The 7.5 intensity quake with its epicentre in Afghanistan's Hindu Kush mountains jolted most northern parts of Pakistan including major cities like Peshawar, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Quetta and Multan at 2.09 p.m
The chairs are named the Dhan Kaur Sahota Presidential Chair in Sikh Studies, Shri Parshvanath Presidential Chair in Jain Studies, and Swami Vivekananda-Dharma Civilization Foundation Presidential Chair in Modern India Studies.
