Hacker, 14, Taps Citibank Computer, Shares Know-How

A 14-year-old boy using a $200 home computer broke into a bank’s credit accounts, illegally bought thousands of dollars of mail-order merchandise and shared his ill-gotten data with hackers nationwide, police said today.

The boy, who was not identified, broke Citibank’s access codes in August and used them in his purchase scheme. So far, Police Detective Frank Clark said, more than $11,000 worth of mail-order goods have been sent to a private post office box the boy set up.

“That’s not the worst of it,” Clark said. “The boy shared the information on how to tap into the bank’s computers on more than 60 private computer ‘bulletin boards’ across the nation.”

Police took the boy into custody earlier this month but had to release him because no law allows them to hold a juvenile in computer crimes cases. His computer was confiscated and police said his parents could be forced to make restitution for the thefts.