Month: February 2018

Enlarge (credit: STML / Flickr)

Two men have been charged with stealing as much as $50,000 through "Jackpotting," a crime that causes malware-infected ATMs to rapidly empty their cash reserves to waiting accomplices.

Alex Alberto Fajin-Diaz, 31, of Spain, and Argenys Rodriguez, 21, of Springfield, Massachusetts, allegedly dressed as ATM repair technicians and approached a machine at the Citizen's Bank in Cromwell, Connecticut, on January 27, according to a criminal complaint filed in US District Court in Hartford. After accessing the inside of the machine, prosecutors said, two additional males then approached the same ATM. An early investigation by Citizens Bank officials later showed that the ATM was drained of more than $50,000.

Citizens Bank investigators quickly detected some sort of anomaly while the ATM heist was in progress and called the Cromwell Police Department. Patrols who responded to the location allegedly found Fajin-Diaz and Rodriguez inside a white, two-door Honda Accord that had been captured in video surveillance of the breached ATM. As a police officer was questioning the men, he heard the ATM making sounds that are typical when it's dispensing money. The machine proceeded to dispense 40 $20 bills.

Enlarge / Jess Cliffe in 2017, talking about the development of the original version of the video game Counter-Strike. (credit: Valve Software)

Following an arrest in Seattle last week, the co-creator of the video game series Counter-Strike has now been formally charged with the crime of commercial sexual abuse of a minor.

The King County Prosecutor's Office issued the charge to 36-year-old game developer and Valve Software employee Jess Cliffe on Monday, alongside the release of a statement of probable cause. This document repeats many details from Friday's bail hearing at a King County courthouse, which initially disclosed accusations of multiple instances of sexual contact with a minor, along with one instance of videotaping an encounter.

The listed "juvenile victim" was 16 years old at the time of the alleged incidents, and she was initially referred to Seattle Police by Child Protective Services due to "reports of CSEC [Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children] activities." The woman (who has not been identified by Seattle Police) explained that she had used the website SeekingArrangement.com to "meet with men who offered to pay her money to have sex with her." Subscriber information for the phone number of one man matched Cliffe's name and home address.