Two Teenagers Busted In Alleged MySpace Extortion Scheme

By now you've probably grown used to the litany of idiotic things people do on MySpace: threatening teachers, posing with guns and drugs, and sharing pictures best left in the dresser drawer.

But a pair of New York teenagers upped the ante recently by allegedly threatening to shake down the leading social-networking site in an extortion scheme.

According to a press release from the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office — MySpace is based in nearby Santa Monica, California — Shaun Harrison, 18, and Saverio Mondelli, 19, allegedly hacked into the site, stole personal information from MySpace users and threatened to expose the secret to accessing the information unless they were paid $150,000.

The teens were arrested Friday by undercover officers posing as MySpace employees en route to Los Angeles to allegedly pick up the payoff. They were each charged with two felony counts of illegal computer access and one count of attempted extortion. If convicted on all charges, they face more than four years in state prison.

According to prosecutors, Harrison and Mondelli — both computer programmers — operated a now-defunct, similarly named Web site that took advantage of vulnerabilities on MySpace and through which they gained access to users' personal information.

MySpace discovered the hack earlier this year and created a patch to block it, then sent a cease-and-desist letter to the hackers. When they allegedly threatened to distribute their unbreakable code unless MySpace coughed up the ransom money, MySpace approached the Electronic Crimes Task Force in order to set up the sting.

Both men pleaded not guilty to the crimes and were released on bail on Thursday. They are due back in court June 5.