Notorious VoIP Thief Gets Ten Years in Prison

A Venezuelan man, who stole over 10 millions of VoIP minutes from US companies and resold them, was sentenced to ten years in prison and ordered to pay $1 million in restitution.

Edwin Andrew Pena, 27, was arrested back in 2006 under suspicion of conspiracy to commit computer hacking and wire fraud, but he fled the United States after posting bail.

The fraudster, who is a citizen of Venezuela, used to live in Miami, where he ran a business that sold long-distance telephone services to other companies.

Local providers, like the one Pena operated, normally buy wholesale minutes from large nation-wide companies and resell them.

However, the fraudster routed the calls made by his customers through the compromised VoIP systems of other providers.

Pena worked together with Washington-based hacker named Robert Moore, who is already serving a two-year prison sentence for his role in the operation.

US authorities caught up with Pena last year in Mexico. He was extradited in October and in February he pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one of conspiracy to commit computer hacking.

"I still don’t really understand how you did what you did," said U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton when delivering the sentence. According to The Star-Ledger, she also characterized the crime as exceedingly selfish and sophisticated.

Pena invested much of the money he earned into real estate, but he also bought a 40-foot motor boat, two BMWs, a Cadillac Escalade SUV and was known to gamble frequently in Vegas.

To post bail, the fraudster convinced his girlfriend and her mother to guarantee with their houses. After he ran away the government ordered the two women to forfeit the properties.

"Theft is theft whether you rob a bank or hack into somebody else’s network and steal their services," commented United States Attorney Paul J. Fishman.