FBI VoIP Raid Target Claims Innocence Says AT&T and Verizon are just using FBI for debt collection Yesterday we noted that a recent FBI raid on a Dallas data center was because of an investigation into a VoIP scam that supposedly bilked AT&T and Verizon out of millions in voice revenue. Left unexplained is why the FBI, apparently dumbfounded by the concept of co-location, confiscated so many servers, taking dozens of companies and ISPs offline. Wired's Threat Level blog has some additional detail on the raid, and speaks to Mike Faulkner, the man the FBI affidavit accuses of engaging in series of significant scams. Says Faulkner of the FBI investigation: "They're destroying more and more customers and it just doesn't seem to make sense. They've done a horrible amount of damage and have been so barbaric in the way they've shut things down. If they just picked some random guy off the street to do this investigation, he could have done a better job than the FBI did" . . . Faulkner says the FBI appears to have assumed that all the servers located at Crydon's address belonged to him, and didn't seem to understand the concept of co-location. Wired's story is compelling in that its narrative runs in stark contrast to the FBI affidavit (pdf), which paints Faulkner as a man with a history of running spam and scam operations and a dabbler in software and firmware piracy, with a documented network of bogus companies, fake addresses and non-working numbers tied to his name. A number of online customers have complained about Faulkner's companies. Yet the Wired piece paints Faulkner as the victim of an unfair witch hunt, where AT&T and Verizon used the FBI as their personal debt collection force. Which story is accurate should be illuminated when and if the FBI files criminal charges against Faulkner and his business partners, though the collateral damage caused by the FBI raid appears to be very real. As does the FBI's lack of Internet understanding. "My understanding is that the way these things are hooked up is that they're interconnected to each other," an FBI rep tells Wired, when asked why so much hardware was confiscated.
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  exocet_cmBuckle up, it's the lawPremium
join:2003-03-23
New Orleans, LA
kudos:2
1 edit |  Please, shut up
quote:
"My understanding is that the way these things are hooked up is that they're interconnected to each other,"
Did somebody interview George Bush because that sounds like something he would say.
Maybe next time the FBI will take the tubes as well.
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"I have measured out my life with coffee spoons..." - T.S Eliot
"I have often regretted my speech, never my silence." - Publilius Syrus
Ma blog: »www.johndball.com | |
|  | | | Re: Please, shut up So, does this mean that they will be confiscating my PC's at home because they are connected to the Internet which is also connected to servers that where there?  | |
| | | exocet_cmBuckle up, it's the lawPremium
join:2003-03-23
New Orleans, LA
kudos:2 | Re: Please, shut up said by steve1515:So, does this mean that they will be confiscating my PC's at home because they are connected to the Internet which is also connected to servers that where there? According to their statement I would think so. I guess laptops and mobile devices might be safe. 
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"I have measured out my life with coffee spoons..." - T.S Eliot
"I have often regretted my speech, never my silence." - Publilius Syrus
Ma blog: »www.johndball.com | |
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| | | Isn't everything on the internet interconnected. Maybe they should have confiscated all the computers connected to the internet? | |
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patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
kudos:1 | ...... Liberals 
Maybe he should have told the FBI agent that he has "customers" and the servers are rented by others, rather than make up BS after the fact.
And whats with all your "customers" using your address and your mailboxes and sharing the same executive officers?
I highly doubt the scam reports placed on forums on the internet were a case of corporate sabotage by competitors.
There still is no excuse for not promptly returning the data, which will be probably never be returned by the FBI, since they don't have to and you can't make them since they are the alpha male.
lesson of the story: learn to keep your servers outside the US, cheaper bandwidth too | |
| | kfw
join:2001-11-20
Norman, OK Reviews:
 ·Cox HSI
| Re: ...... I used to design these Data Centers, My twin brother was an Engineer @ POP based in the Dallas area. This was in 2001.
The ignorance surrounding co-location is just dumbfounding.
Co-Lo has been the defecto standard forever and the FBI has to get involved? Now?
There is more to this than what is being told here on this site. Yea, politics are present, but still....
Someone should do a little more research and give all of us that find this startling a "real" reason behind this.
In the '90's Dallas was full of scams and associates of mine got caught up in it and they went to jail for a long time.
It is just fact that legitimate businesses get screwed in the process....
Oh, well: | |
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| | I thought a 'server cluster' meant something else... The FBI raids 2 datacenters and takes several cages/racks of servers, switches & routers - now they have to put it back together (figuratively, at least) to *try* to find evidence? That sure sounds like doing it the hard way around, and increasing the likelihood of mistakes.
Also of note is this statement in the Wired article, "The irony, he [Faulkner] says, is that in the case of his servers the data was all hardware encrypted." So good luck searching those drives. | |
| | | FBI- Federal Bureau of Ineptness No wonder they failed to stop 911 despite having so many clues. Maybe they hired someone who has a real education from a academic school rather that from the school of Rushtapo they might stand a better chance. These federal goons need to be replaced. | |
| | | wuaa wuaa | |
| | Squidii
join:2004-06-30
Little Rock, AR Reviews:
·Cobridge Communi..
| Re: wuaa wuaa said by ninjatutle:I don't believe this crybaby one bit. So you people think the FBI knows nothing about computers? About the interweb? Aint these the same people that can find data on your HD that you reformatted 3 times ago? Just because you use Unix and assembled your own CPU doesnt make you a superstar. Actually, anyone who assembles their own CPU is kinda neat.
Oh, you meant the white box you plug the cables into.. well, thats not a CPU and I question your technical credentials. | |
| | | | | Re: wuaa wuaa No credentials here. I don't use linux or unix, I'm not a superstar  | |
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| public
join:2002-01-19
Santa Clara, CA | said by ninjatutle:I don't believe this crybaby one bit. So you people think the FBI knows nothing about computers? About the interweb? Just read this pathetic affidavit.
»blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/files/···avit.pdf
Aint these the same people that can find data on your HD that you reformatted 3 times ago?
Of course not. See above what the semiliterate dimwit wrote in the search warrant. Evidently dumber than a lamppost judge signed it. | |
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1 edit | Re: wuaa wuaa Did you read the affidavit? 
Maybe we're reading different ones. The one I read says Faulkner is fraud and a scammer. Forged bank letters, forged Verizon invoices, doesn't pay his office lease, makes money off of spamming, sets up VOIP accounts but doesnt deliver, etc etc. | |
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 Jafo232You Can't Spell Democrat Without Rat.Premium
join:2002-10-17
Boonville, NY | well Who owned the data centers? | |
|  RARPSL
join:1999-12-08
Suffern, NY | Why seize the equipment not just the backup takes? The FBI had no need to grab the equipment when all they needed was a copy of the files. IOW: Duplicate the backup tapes and or the RAID Drives and go home to look at them. Since the Backup Tapes (or hot swapping the drives) is the way the ISP keeps up-to-date copies, why is that not enough for the FBI? This is not the same as seizing a home computer to look at. The RAID Drives and Backup Tapes ARE an exact copy of the computer. | |
| nitzanPremium,VIP
join:2008-02-27
kudos:2 | Blah blah blah. The FBI this and that. Cry cry cry. I read the full report from the agent - he had *way* more than reasonable doubt to suspect ALL the equipment in the suite belongs to or involved Faulkner's illegal activities. This isn't a raid on an entire data center - their raided a specific suite in the data center!
Did Faulkner have a few legitimate customers renting colo space from him? unlikely - but possible. It is unfortunate if any of them got caught up with this - but I don't think the FBI was wrong in this case. We're talking about a network of individuals who's crimes range from scam to spam, to forging financial documents, to cheating other companies to the tune of millions of dollars. How much do you want to bet they are also responsible for millions of voice spam ("your car warranty is expiring") minutes? This isn't just some script kid with a server in his basement - this is a number of individuals who knowingly and with full intention routinely established service from other carriers and vendors to resell to their own customers - and routinely did not pay for such services. In my world that is theft - pure and simple.
The sad thing is - it took them going big and trying to defraud AT&T and Verizon for the FBI to actually do something about this. These jerks have been out there defrauding other companies for years until now.
The VoIP world is a little safer with guys like these out of the picture. | |
|  lgk
@icentrix.com | ya right also if he is so innocent why are his servers hardware encrypted.. that right there says he is guilty of some fishy stuff. | |
| | | | Re: ya right lol...are you serious?
because personal information, especially information on your customers should NEVER be encrypted right? | |
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| | | I wonder if they took the monitors It always kills me when I see them on TV carting off the monitors. What are they going to find? Dust?
Incidentally, I know someone who used to work for the FBI. They are well aware of the collateral damage their raids cause and don't care in the least. | |
| mc5w
join:2002-06-14
Independence, OH | A Few More Ways to Describe the Guesstapo Fart Bungling Idiots is just another example of the Guesstapo.
Companies say that they want people who know what they are doing, but if you are Smarter Than A Box Of Rocks, they will claim that you are ( snotty voice ) Too Expensive or that you have Asberger's Syndrome, whatever the hell that is, or claim that you have antisocial tendencies, or are just plain dangerous.
Most people will not hire someone who is smarter than they are unless they are trying to stay out of jail or the graveyard and they think that smart people are going to take their jobs away. Well, lets see what their attitude is when the Marslims succeed in making us worship a naughty angel whose name used to be Mars putting our faces on the ground and our rear ends up in the air.
New Words:
Fart Bungling Idiots
Guesstapo
Marslim | |
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