Frank M-Ahearn

The truth behind hacking? It’s a global business – and journalists are the least of it

The dark art of stealing personal information is not confined to newspapers, as a former practitioner explains

issue 27 August 2011

‘Hi, this is Mr Pretext from mobile phone activations. Our systems are down and I need you to bring up a customer’s mobile account for me please.’ I must have repeated this lie thousands of times in the past 20 years. It helped me gain access to information — criminal records, social security numbers, phone logs — that I would then hand on to all sorts of clients: journalists, insurers, cuckolded husbands and even policemen.

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