Zynga Hacker to Serve Two-year Jail Sentence

Remember Ashley Mitchell, the guy who managed to hack into Zynga’s Texas Hold’em Application and stole 400 billion chips and sold them off at eBay for far less than what Zynga would have charged and earned himself a nifty profit in the process? Well, it isn’t just cash that he earned. Mitchell now has a 2-year prison sentence to go along with all that money.

Hacker Behind Bars

Ashley Mitchell was swimming in chips way back in 2009 when he first stole from Zynga’s Texas Hold’em Application. Mitchell stole an astonishing 400 billion chips and distributed them to several fake Facebook accounts. He then sold off some of those chips on the online shopping site, eBay, where he earned about $85,870. Of course, if you used Zynga’s rates, those chips would have cost $12 million all in all. That’s a huge theft right there, and all for what, a couple of virtual chips? Mitchell’s crime did not go unnoticed by authorities, and last February, he was finally taken to court. Having nowhere to hide, he pled guilty to the charges of Converting Criminal Property and to the Computer Misuse Act. Mitchell tried to wiggle out of a long sentence by saying that he was suffering from gambling addiction.

Of course, the court did not buy that act one bit. There’s little connection, after all, between gambling and hacking. Gambling addicts spend their money without control, but they don’t necessarily hack into systems and steal poker chips. What’s fascinating, though, is that Mitchell was actually quite well off. He is earning a six-figure income from his Gambino Poker Facebook App. He could have easily earned all that money without resorting to illegal means, and yet he did so anyway. Mitchell offered to pay off the money he stole, but the judge was not sympathetic.

No to Hacking

Judge Philip Wassail told Mitchell that he should ‘expect a stiff sentence’. The judge understands that people rely heavily on computer systems, and anyone who hacks into these systems for their own ends should be dealt with appropriately. Indeed, Mitchell’s case should be a lesson to all hackers and would-be hackers out there. The internet is not their playground, nor should they treat it as such. It’s good to see that these hackers are finally getting what they deserve. Hopefully, this case will send out a big message to the hackers: don’t do anything fishy or you’ll get to serve prison time. Hackers are advised to use this party poker bonus code instead.

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