Hacker Pulls an Office Space, Steals $50,000 Worth of Pennies from Google, Paypal [Hax0rs]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/300041870/hacker-pulls-an-office-space-steals-50000-worth-of-pennies-from-google-paypal

In a move reminiscent of schemes seen in Office Space and Superman III, a hacker has exploited a loophole to weasel himself over $50,000 from services such as Google Checkout and Paypal by taking pennies at a time. Unfortunately, he was caught, and is in all likelihood heading to pound-me-in-the-ass prison.

The loophole involved the tiny payments that online payment services and brokerages send to new user accounts to verify that they're real. While getting four cents from PayPal might not seem like a big deal to you, Michael Largent decided to create a script to automatically open 58,000 of these accounts. Unfortunately for him, the companies caught on to his scheme and he's currently out on bail on charges of wire, bank and mail fraud.

The funny thing is, he's not in trouble for taking the money. It was being given out freely, after all. He's in trouble for using fake names and social security numbers to open the accounts.

If only Milton would go burn down the Googleplex in retaliation for Sergey Brin taking his stapler, destroying the evidence of your crime, you could escape these charges! [PC Pro via Slashdot]