Cop Arrested And Fired For Allegedly Stealing Pokemon Cards

A Pokémon anime still shows Officer Jenny grab Ash Ketchum's pokédex.

Screenshot: OLM / The Pokémon Company / Kotaku

An Alabama corrections officer was arrested and fired over the weekend for stealing Pokémon cards at a Walmart.

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According to an article from Alabama news site Advance Local, which had a bit of fun with the headline “Gotta catch ‘em all?” Calhoun County corrections officer Josh Hardy was arrested on August 12 at 7 p.m. for attempting a five-finger Poké-discount by opening up multiple Pokémon card packs and swiping individual cards into his pocket within full view of a Walmart loss prevention employee. When Hardy was confronted over his act of theft, he fled the Oxford, Alabama store on foot, the news site reported.

Sometime after Walmart staff reported the crime to the Oxford Police, Hardy was found at a local restaurant with the stolen Pokémon cards still in his pockets, at which point he was arrested and charged with theft. To make matters all the more awkward, Hardy had committed the Pokécrime and was subsequently arrested while in uniform. Irony found dead.

“It is with great embarrassment that we have to report this incident, and Hardy has been terminated from the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office,” Calhoun County Sheriff Matthew Wade said in a statement to the public. “He has tarnished our agency and the image of all law enforcement. As sheriff, I promised to be transparent and hold my staff accountable to a standard higher than average citizens.”

Read More: Men Simply Walk Away With $300,000 Of Stolen Magic: The Gathering Cards

Former Alabama corrections officer Hardy’s cartoonish card theft closely follows another peculiar trading card game-related heist committed in broad daylight. Just last week at Gen Con, an annual tabletop gaming convention held at the Indiana Convention Center, a couple of thieves stole boxes full of Magic: The Gathering cards worth an estimated $300,000.

   

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‘All Of Sony Systems’ Allegedly Hacked By New Ransomware Group

There’s a new gang on the dark web that claims it’s breached all of Sony’s systems in a ransomware attack.

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Read More: GTA 6 Leaker Hacked Rockstar With Just An Amazon Fire Stick In A Hotel Room

According to a September 25 article from Australian cybersecurity publication Cyber Security Connect, the PlayStation maker was cracked open by Ransomed.vc, a new outfit of hackers that’s only been operating since September—though the publication suggests the gang has connections to previous dark web forums and groups. Cyber Security Connect reports that the hack allegedly unearthed screenshots of Sony’s internal log-in page, an internal PowerPoint presentation outlining test bench details, several Java files, and a document tree of the entire leak housing 6,000 files.

“We have successfully [compromised] all of [Sony’s] systems,” Ransomed.vc proclaimed. “We won’t ransom them! We will sell the data. Due to Sony not wanting to pay. DATA IS FOR SALE. WE ARE SELLING IT.”

Within those 6,000 files are supposedly a bevy of documentation, including unknown “build log files,” a swath of Java resources, and HTML data. Many of the files are reportedly in Japanese. While Ransomed.vc hasn’t listed a price for the data, the group left contact details for Sony to get in touch and listed a “post date” of September 28, which might be when Ransomed.vc will just post it all.

Interestingly, Ransomed.vc seems to be a ransomware operator and a ransomware-as-a-service organization. That means that alongside these large-scale hacks of major corporations, Ransomed.vc (which VGC claims operates out of Russia and Ukraine) also reportedly works with the EU’s general data protection and regulation (GDPR) and other data privacy laws to report vulnerabilities in company systems and violations in the laws. According to Cyber Security Connect, the group is leveraging laws to reportedly bully victims into submission.

Sony told IGN on September 26 that it was looking into the claims. “We are currently investigating the situation, and we have no further comment at this time,” a statement issued to the publication read.

Read More: Reddit Hackers Demand $4.5 Million Ransom For Stolen Company Data

This isn’t the first time Sony has been hacked. Back in 2011, the company’s PlayStation Network suffered a massive breach that saw some 77 million registered accounts compromised and online features totally inoperable. It was so bad that Sony not only had to explain to Congress what happened but also began giving away games and money a few years later as compensation. Less than 6,000 files may not seem as egregious as that PSN hack, but a hack is a hack all the same, so here’s hoping Sony can batten down the hatches ASAP.

 

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Goldman Sachs Employee Allegedly Used Xbox For Insider Trading

Leonardo DiCaprio stands behind an Xbox 360.

Image: Paramount Pictures / Microsoft / Kotaku

A newly unsealed FBI indictment accuses a former analyst at Goldman Sachs of insider trading, including allegedly using an Xbox to pass tips onto his close friends. The friend group earned over $400,000 in ill-gotten gains as a result, federal prosecutors claim. “There’s no tracing [Xbox 360 chat],” the analyst allegedly told his friend who was worried they might be discovered. He appears to have made a grave miscalculation.

Thank You, PS Plus, For Making My Backlog Even Bigger

The FBI arrested Anthony Viggiano and alleged co-conspirator Christopher Salamone, charging them with securities fraud on September 28. Viggiano is accused of using his previous position at Goldman Sachs to share trading tips with Salamone and others. Salamone has already pleaded guilty. Bloomberg reports that this is the fifth incident in recent years of a person associated with the investment bank allegedly using their position to do crimes.

Viggiano and Salamone were childhood friends, the FBI claims, and beginning last last Salamone allegedly purchased shares and call options for obscure companies including Maxar Technologies, Atlas Technical Consultant, and Syneous Health, after receiving tips from Viggiano. It sounds like at least some of this insider info was shared on Microsoft’s high tech, ultra-secure gaming platform.

“Signal, or like Xbox 360 chat, there’s no tracing that, good luck ever finding that,” Viggiano allegedly told Salamone in a recording made by the latter after both were first interviewed by the FBI in June. The two were discussing who in their inner circle might flip, with Viggiano trying to assure Salamone that potential incriminating evidence was out of the FBI’s reach. “So, I mean, at worst—we’re talking worst-case scenario, maybe I said something in…like the very first [message to Steve]. But that’s the worst case.”

It’s not clear if both friends actually still played games on the Xbox 360 in the year 2022, or if Viggiano was mis-remembering the name of the Xbox One or Xbox Series X/S. Maybe they did use the original 2005 console to communicate, thinking it was somehow more private as a result of its archaic interface and outdated systems. We also don’t know if the FBI ever actually got ahold of the Xbox chats in question, or merely got Salamone to confess by making it seem like they did.

Probably best to keep the crime talk on Xbox to a minimum either way, especially now that Microsoft is using AI to monitor communications for illicit and toxic activities.

       

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