Posted by Voipfone on October 5, 2010
After he sold VoIP services routing calls over over other networks that he hacked, Edwin Andres Pena racked up $1.4 million worth of stolen calls. The Venezuelan citizen based his operations out of New Jersey and went on the run when he was arrested back in 2006. Police caught up with him in Mexico in 2009 and he is the first person to be sentenced to prison for hacking VoIP services.
Pena set up a wholesale voice company in which he sold VoIP minutes at cut rate prices. The secret to his bargain calling plans was that the minutes were all stolen by hacking other VoIP companies. Now, he will spend ten years behind bars and then face a number of years under supervision to prevent him from striking again. He will also have to come up with another scheme during that time to pay back the million plus dollars he must pay in restitution. It is also in the works that he will be deported back to Venezuela where he is a citizen.