Deception to commit crimes has gone high tech in the last decades. When photocopiers were invented, it was clear that this then-new technology would open the door for clever criminals to commit clever crimes. As AI becomes commonplace, I suppose we can expect clever criminals to use it to commit crimes. But not all criminals are clever as we are reminded in the crime stories we cover this week.
The not-so-golden-ticket
Scotch tape was invented in 1930 by Richard Drew, a banjo-playing 3M engineer. It’s not what one could call “high tech.” Kira Enders and Dakota Jones were recently charged with grand theft of more than $100,000 because they taped together pieces of two $50 losing lottery tickets, hoping to pass them off as the $1 million jackpot ticket.
They are a “Florida couple.” Their attempt was so simplistic it barely qualified as forgery. Upon presenting the ticket at a Florida Lottery office in Pensacola, the staff, while skeptical, played along long enough to have Enders sign a claim form. Their scheme quickly unraveled, leading to their arrest and an upcoming court appearance on May 10.
Deep fake for deep revenge
In Baltimore, Maryland, a high school athletic director named Dazhon Darien allegedly crafted a high-tech hoax using artificial intelligence. Darien purportedly created a fake audio recording of Pikesville High School Principal Eric Eiswert uttering racist and antisemitic slurs. This deepfake was designed to retaliate against Eiswert due to a personal conflict related to Darien’s job performance and alleged financial mismanagement.
The falsified audio quickly spread online, leading to widespread community outrage and Eiswert’s temporary removal. Darien was detained at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, for possessing a handgun while attempting to board a flight. Authorities then discovered he had a warrant for the offence of “disrupting school activities,” arrested him and released him on a bond with a court date to face the allegation.
I assume that this type of offence will become common in the years to come. Perhaps, as in this case, you simply need to look at who had the motive to solve the crime.
Side note, Thurgood Marshall, was one of most revered US Supreme Court Justices and a heck of a guy.
Who was the real dummy?
AI and drones, autopilot and robots – much of modern technology is frightening. Still, low tech is easier for most who attempt to skirt the rules as we see with one California driver who was recently stopped for having a dummy in his passenger seat to exploit carpool lane privileges on the congested highways. The ruse was uncovered when the driver was stopped for a minor traffic violation. This has been done before but, in this case, the dummy passenger, though not a robot, was quite realistic, dressed in a black hoodie and sunglasses, and was so convincingly done that it initially fooled other motorists and the highway patrol.
