Just an update, looks like Dex is not going to jail.
http://www.katv.com/news/stories/0809/647593.htmlConway - An online news magazine claims it has identified the man who heads the prank call Web site Pranknet, which may be responsible for $50,000 in phoned-in vandalism to a Conway hotel.
The FBI (web) has found no violation of a federal statute and has discontinued its investigation.
In an in-depth investigation, The Smoking Gun has reported that “Dex,” the online altar ego for the man who heads up the network of pranksters, is 25-year-old Windsor, Ontario, resident Tariq Malik.
In June, an employee at a Conway hotel received a call from a man claiming to be a representative from SimplexGrinnel, the installer of the hotel’s fire sprinklers. The caller told the employee there was a problem with the sprinklers and that she needed to “reset” them by pulling the fire alarm. As the prank progressed, the caller told the woman the sprinklers would activate unless she started breaking windows, which he said contained sensors that connected to the alarm system. After the sprinklers activated, the employee believed the caller’s next claim that the entire hotel would flood unless the employee began breaking windows. Another employee and a guest got caught up in the scheme before the Conway Fire Department and police arrived and determined there was no real emergency.
A few weeks after the Conway incident, the FBI took over the investigation. However, Special Agent Steve Frasier of the FBI, said Thursday, “We looked at the allegation. There doesn’t appear to be a violation of federal law. From the information we’ve received, it may violate state law, but from what we’ve received, there was no violation of a federal statute.”
Listeners to pranknet.org use the voice chat program Beyluxe Messenger.
According to The Smoking Gun, Beyluxe is “headquartered overseas (and) either unaware or unconcerned about the rampant criminality taking place on Pranknet.”
Also according to TSG, “He and his followers place their prank calls via Skype, confident that the Internet phone service sufficiently cloaks their identities and whereabouts.”
