Neowin News Feed for: Crime

Microsoft Teams becomes key witness in government database wipe crime

Usama Jawad — Fri, 15 May 2026 10:58:01 +0000

A bizarre Microsoft Teams mistake exposed conversations tied to a major government database deletion case. Read more...

[Free download] There's No Such Thing as Crypto Crime eBook (worth $21)

Sponsored — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 19:00:01 +0000

Hands-on guidance for professionals investigating crimes that include cryptocurrency, free to download until 12/3. Read more...

$2.2 billion in crypto stolen in 2024, North Korea largely to blame

Paul Hill — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 16:48:01 +0000

There has been around $2.2 billion in crypto assets stolen this year, according to Chainalysis. Some of the main culprits were North Korea-linked actors. Read more...

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov releases first public statement since his arrest in France

Martin Hodás — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 07:54:01 +0000

In his first statement since his arrest, Pavel Durov blames French authorities, yet he promises to do more to stop criminals abusing Telegram. Read more...

Telegram releases official statement as its CEO remains in French custody

Martin Hodás — Mon, 26 Aug 2024 10:26:02 +0000

Popular messenger app Telegram insists it complies with EU law and claims that its detained CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide. The platform is known for ignoring authorities and even the media. Read more...

Apple's App Store prevented more than $2 billion worth of fraudulent transactions in 2022

Steve Bennett — Tue, 16 May 2023 21:10:01 +0000

Apple has published a report that claims it prevented over $2 billion in fraudulent App Store transactions and rejected nearly 1.7 million submissions for not meeting the App Store standards. Read more...

Former Apple employee found guilty of $17 million fraud

Steve Bennett — Wed, 02 Nov 2022 07:28:01 +0000

In a Californian court, a former Apple employee was found guilty of defrauding the company for a value of more than $17 million through theft, taking kickbacks, and inflating invoices. Read more...

Tired of being ghosted? A Philippine politician wants to make ghosting a criminal offense

Usama Jawad — Thu, 28 Jul 2022 11:58:02 +0000

A Filipino lawmaker has presented a bill that declares ghosting a criminal offense that could be punishable by community service. The ludicrous document has little chance of being passed as law. Read more...

Apple strengthens protections against unwanted AirTag tracking

Paul Hill — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 20:20:01 +0000

Responding to criticism about its AirTag device, Apple is preparing to update its devices so that people are better protected against bad actors who use AirTag trackers to stalk targets. Read more...

Android users should install the Apple AirTag anti-stalking app

Paul Hill — Thu, 20 Jan 2022 11:00:02 +0000

Android users could be stalked by criminals more easily because they do not know about the Apple Tracker Detect app that alerts them that they're unknowingly carrying a stalker's AirTag with them. Read more...

FBI-run encrypted messaging app snares hundreds of criminals worldwide

Paul Hill — Tue, 08 Jun 2021 11:24:01 +0000

The FBI and Australian law enforcement spearheaded an operation to bring down hundreds of serious criminals. The operation used an encrypted messaging app called ANoM which was run by the FBI. Read more...

Samsung chairman sentenced to 2.5 years by Seoul High Court

Paul Hill — Mon, 18 Jan 2021 10:12:01 +0000

Samsung's chairman Lee Jae-yong has been sentenced to 2.5 years after a retrial over bribery. He was sentenced to 5 years in 2017 but that was halved then suspended, seeing him go free in 2018. Read more...

Hundreds arrested, drugs and arms seized in the wake of police infiltration of a texting app

Ather Fawaz — Fri, 03 Jul 2020 06:22:01 +0000

Police forces worked with the NSA to introduce malware into a secure texting platform EncroChat. Over 800 criminals have been arrested. Two tons of drugs and dozens of arms have been seized as well. Read more...

UK: Campaigners call for anonymity in revenge porn cases and better police training

Paul Hill — Sun, 19 May 2019 08:58:01 +0000

Campaigners and experts have made calls for victims of revenge porn to be given anonymity when they report a crime. Revenge porn cases also saw a 23% drop in charges in recent years. Read more...

Europol targeting users of major DDoS-for-hire website with legal action

Usama Jawad — Tue, 29 Jan 2019 15:38:01 +0000

Europol is going after the 151,000 registered users of the biggest DDoS-for-hire website. The law enforcement authority has warned that these people will "face action for the damage they have caused." Read more...

Instagram and Snapchat disable Giphy integration due to "racist GIF"

Usama Jawad — Sat, 10 Mar 2018 19:20:01 +0000

Social media platforms Instagram and Snapchat have temporarily disabled integration with Giphy due to the presence of a "racist GIF" with racial slurs that pops up when a user types "crime". Read more...

White House official says bitcoin regulation not near

Paul Hill — Fri, 16 Feb 2018 17:32:02 +0000

Rob Joyce, head of cybersecurity at the White House, has cast doubt on the possibility of bitcoin regulation in the near term. The White House is still weighing up the benefits and risks of bitcoin. Read more...

Gallup: Cybercrime is the most feared crime in the U.S.

Paul Hill — Tue, 07 Nov 2017 18:00:01 +0000

The results are in, folks! It turns out that the crime most people worry about is being the target of a cybercrime, whether it be personal or financial information that they lose to a hacker. Read more...

Android's Tap & Go feature suspected to be compromised by fraudsters

Cage Appleby — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 06:16:01 +0000

Europol has reason to suspect Google's Tap & Go service has been used by criminals to instigate fraudulent NFC payments. Thieves are able to exploit contactless credit cards, despite being deactivated Read more...

Hacker sentenced to 20 years in prison for assisting terror group ISIL

Paul Hill — Sun, 25 Sep 2016 18:06:01 +0000

The United States has, for the first time, sentenced a terrorist-related hacker for stealing information about 1,300 US military personnel. Ardit Ferizi, has been handed a 20-year sentence. Read more...

24,518 confiscated Bitcoins in Australia will be auctioned off in June

Jack Wilkinson — Mon, 30 May 2016 23:00:01 +0000

24,518 Bitcoins that were confiscated by police in Australia will be auctioned off. The coins will be offered in blocks of 2,000, to prevent the market being affected negatively by the auction. Read more...

Kim Dotcom ruled eligible for US extradition

Boyd Chan — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 10:02:01 +0000

This afternoon, in front of a packed gallery, a New Zealand judge ruled that Kim Dotcom could be legally extradited to the US in order to face charges of copyright infringement. Read more...

Meth-carrying drone crashes near US-Mexico border

Usama Jawad — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 19:22:01 +0000

A drone carrying 3 kilograms of meth crashed in a supermarket's parking lot a couple of days ago. The Tijuana Police and other authorities have varying views regarding its whereabouts. Read more...

London police want to know who's likely to commit crimes ahead of time

Vlad Dudau — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 12:12:01 +0000

The London police department is testing predictive software that aims to find out who's likely to commit a crime before they actually do it. The tech is supposedly aimed at gangs and gang members. Read more...

Seattle man gets 1.5 year sentence after insider trading netted him $400,000

Jett Goldsmith — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 22:58:30 +0000

Sean Stokke, a Seattle stock trader and associate of former Microsoft manager Brian Jorgenson, has been sentenced to 1.5 years in prison after insider trading which earned him over $400,000 in total. Read more...

UK ISPs offered voluntary code to collect data on music piracy

Paul Ferson — Sun, 01 Sep 2013 23:02:20 +0000

A voluntary code to be discussed by the British Phonographic Institute, major ISPs and David Cameron at 10 Downing Street in September could bring new policies to counter illegal downloads of music. Read more...

Ask.fm revises safety policy after user suicide

Paul Ferson — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 11:57:32 +0000

After the suicide of an Ask.fm user relating to abusive questions, the site has announced a new safety policy, to come into effect in September. The change provides more straightforward reports. Read more...

Intelligence services fear Lenovo products due to back-doors [Updated]

Paul Ferson — Sat, 27 Jul 2013 15:37:50 +0000

Intelligence services across the world are wary of products from Chinese tech manufacturing giant Lenovo, fearing the company has been including 'back-doors' that could be use to steal data. Read more...

Flaw in SIM encryption leaves millions of old phones at risk

Paul Ferson — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 20:39:23 +0000

Due to a weakness in old encryption technologies, millions of phones are at risk of being controlled by hackers, who could be able to gain control of all phone features within a few minutes. Read more...

UK to block pornography by default; it corrodes your childhood

Paul Ferson — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 12:20:33 +0000

A change in UK law means that pornography is to be blocked by default, becoming an opt-in feature. The move is ostensibly an effort to limit access to illegal content or underage content. Read more...

Federal authorities seize Bitcoins for what may be the first time

Paul Ferson — Sun, 07 Jul 2013 21:21:54 +0000

In what may be the first case of its kind, federal authorities have seized Bitcoins, the all-digital currency, from a South Carolina man for breaching the Controlled Substances Act in the USA. Read more...

Three more torrent sites disappear from the UK radar

Paul Ferson — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 03:00:00 +0000

Three more torrent sites have disappeared in the United Kingdom, producing the same error message as The Pirate Bay and ensuring people don't even think about breaching copyright regulations. Read more...

New York's mayor points out Apple products caused rise in crime in 2012... kind of

Paul Ferson — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 23:45:48 +0000

New York City narrowly missed out on lower crime than in 2011, with the theft of Apple devices being just enough to push the famous city over a potential record for decreasing crime levels. Read more...

7,000 Wii U's Stolen in Seattle

Jake Durasamy — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 11:24:44 +0000

7,000 Wii U's have been stolen from an Air Cargo bay in Seattle. It is believed that the thieves stole two semi-trucks and loaded Wii U's onto the vehicles before driving off into the night. Read more...

John McAfee video press conference and alibi posted to YouTube [Update: He's now arrested]

Steven Parker — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 10:28:26 +0000

In what seems like almost daily new twists in the John McAfee saga where he is being sought for questioning by the Belize government over a murder inquiry, now an alibi video has been posted online. Read more...

John McAfee admits escaping Belize to Guatemala

John Callaham — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 22:34:42 +0000

John McAfee, the eccentric founder of the McAfee antivirus company, has admitted he is now in Guatemala after escaping from the country of Belize where the police want to question him in a murder case Read more...

John McAfee arrested for murder on Mexico/Belize border [UPDATE: He wasn't arrested]

Christopher White — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 15:31:18 +0000

Has John McAfee finally been found after allegedly murdering his neighbor last month? According to his official blog, the answer is yes. Read more...

Three Anonymous members plead guilty over PayPal attack

Paul Ferson — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 12:33:22 +0000

Hackers identifying themselves as part of the Anonymous collective have admitted their guilt in an attack against PayPal, which the company alleges lost them £3.5 million during 2010. Read more...

Kim Dotcom's extradition case could go all the way to July 2013

Paul Ferson — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 22:32:30 +0000

Kim Dotcom's extradition to the United States hearing could be pushed all the way back to July 2013, with the family's case reaching box-office proportions in terms of plot twists and turns. Read more...

Dutch gamer charged with hacking an MMO in 2007 and 2008

Paul Ferson — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 18:20:38 +0000

A Dutch national who demanded rewards for ceasing attacks on an MMO's servers could be "levelled up" to five years in the slammer after being found guilty of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion. Read more...