13-year old 'used school computer to buy eBay copter and jet'

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Ohio police say a penniless 13-year-old used his school computer to buy a helicopter and a jet on Ebay.

Police say he used his friend's mother's password. They say his successful bids add up to about £1.4m.

Columbiana County Sheriffs say he made the purchases on May 24 using a computer at Beaver Middle School.

They say he made successful bids of $1.1m for the helicopter and $199,000 for the jet.

The woman alerted authorities when the helicopter owner rang to ask how she intended to pay for it.

Authorities say the boy also 'bought' motorbikes and a pick-up truck. The woman has cancelled the transactions.

The boy hasn't been charged. His head teacher says he's thinking about punishing him.


http://www.ananova.com/news/story/s...y.internetcrime

[CrowbarTK Hullo]

Originally posted by ethan_h
The boy hasn't been charged. His head teacher says he's thinking about punishing him.

'thinking'? @.@ he should be punished!

[Adil]

What did he do wrong? everbody needs a jet and a copter to survive nowadays...

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Avextrax, that sig of yours is throwing the forums layout off at a rate of knots - the links are too wide. Edit them so that they are on different lines...

[edit]nevermind - my screwup...[/edit]

[J. Burnaway]

I don't think he should be punished - the school let him go on ebay - that's their own fault. I think it's hilarious! Anyone dumb enough to try to sell a helicopter on ebay gets what they deserve.

[rm']

Any middle school sysadmin dumb enough not to block Ebay.com also gets what he/she deserves. Of what possible educational use could Ebay be?

I would recommend punishment of the child though, for no other reason than that he stole someone else's account info. Fraud is a serious crime.

[apollos]

Originally posted by J. Burnaway
I don't think he should be punished - the school let him go on ebay - that's their own fault.

Very true. My school blocks loads of sites even the chat ones. Still though, a ban of using the school computers wouldnt go amiss!



You can buy helicopters on ebay now? In a minute they will be letting you buy things with little pieces of plastic!

No wait, theyve already done that

I think the ease of buying things on the net is handy but a helicopter? Thats pathetic and just begging for people to use stolen credit cards!

[c2R]

That's stupid.

It's not really a matter for the school, but instead the ebay, the seller, and possibly the police. It does point out on ebay that bids are legally bindind, so the kid's family should be forced to pay up.

[Curi0us_George]

Originally posted by J. Burnaway
I don't think he should be punished - the school let him go on ebay - that's their own fault. I think it's hilarious! Anyone dumb enough to try to sell a helicopter on ebay gets what they deserve.

Please. You think the school can block every auction site on the Internet? They shouldn't have to block any sites at all. That's not their responsibility.

Can you think of a better place to sell helicopters and jets?

Originally posted by rm'
Any middle school sysadmin dumb enough not to block Ebay.com also gets what he/she deserves. Of what possible educational use could Ebay be?

I would recommend punishment of the child though, for no other reason than that he stole someone else's account info. Fraud is a serious crime.

Like I said, I don't think it's the sysadmin's job to worry about every single site. Personally, I hope the child's mother punishes him in some extremely severe manner, whatever that may be, and that the school punishes him also.

[rm']

Originally posted by Curi0us_George

They shouldn't have to block any sites at all. That's not their responsibility.

Yes it is. It's the school's responsibility to give a child a sound education. When the school leaves avenues open for children to waste their time, break the law, etc., etc., they are responsible. Parents expect the school do whatever they can within the bounds of the law to ensure that their kids are in a beneficial learning environment, whether that be disciplining a bully or ensuring that kids don't have access to porn on school computers.

[liquidmotion]

Originally posted by CrowbarTK Hullo


'thinking'? @.@ he should be punished!

i agree!

[feroxis]

Originally posted by rm'


Yes it is. It's the school's responsibility to give a child a sound education. When the school leaves avenues open for children to waste their time, break the law, etc., etc., they are responsible.

So what you're saying is that schools should strap children in their chairs, keep all their eyelids pried open, put blinders on them, cover all the windows, and just flash information in front of their faces?

Obviously, if they're not strapped down they might break the law somehow. And if you don't keep their eyelids pried open they might waste time. And the blinders keep them from looking anywhere other than where they're supposed to. Lord forbid they should see the world around them.

Seriously - the internet has a lot to offer. I believe eBay can be very educational. Where better to learn the values of capitalism and the ins and outs of free, relatively unrestricted trade?

While I agree that some sites should be blocked (pornography, etc) I do not agree that there should be some ominous figure declaring what's "educational" and what's not. Everything is subjective, and one child may learn much from a resource while another abuses it. That always has been and always will be the case - children are children, and not all are self-motivated.

That all said, it would be impossible to ban all of the "distractions" and possible breaches in a "beneficial learning environment". Even if you could, I believe it would be simple enough for a child to create their own. Blinders non-withstanding.

[Naamloos]

This kid learned his lesson, and thats what school for isnt it?

[Vie]

Ok thats just toooo funny

[Sandman2012]

I'm just pissed that my mom's trying to sell the family helicoptor.

[excracked]

That penniless 13 yr old owes me $199.000!!!!!!!!!!!!

[KelseyB]

let me ask this:

what kind of jet sells for $200,000?

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Originally posted by KelseyB
let me ask this:

what kind of jet sells for $200,000?

I'd like to see their shipping charges on that one!!! That would be one huge UPS box, thats for sure.

lets just hope that they don't deliver to the middle east though...

[patroclus22]

Seems there was a story here recently that a civilian was able to use Ebay to sell stolen USAF equipment that he'd bought from a garage sale near a base (McConell AFB?) in Florida. When he tried to give it back to the Air Force, the AF told him they didn't want it and to sell it on Ebay.
SO he did.
Then the AF came looking for it...

[henry3k56]

Now, if you don't know how to fly a helicopter, or a jet without proper instuction, how the hell was the kid gonna acquire the space to take off, and land? Also keep it all a secret when the package came in the shipping service that there were parts and instuctions on how to rebuild the aircraft?
What a stupid boy.

[Twilightseer]

Originally posted by KelseyB
let me ask this:

what kind of jet sells for $200,000?

It's the one and only jet the Irish airforce used to own. They decided to sell it as they needed cash while on the other hand they realized that one jet was not enough to resist a possible attack

@ ethan

[SSJ4 Gogitta]

Here's the $1.1M Helicopter.

COBRA (TAH-1F)

A $115,000 jet

[Curi0us_George]

Originally posted by rm'
Yes it is. It's the school's responsibility to give a child a sound education. When the school leaves avenues open for children to waste their time, break the law, etc., etc., they are responsible. Parents expect the school do whatever they can within the bounds of the law to ensure that their kids are in a beneficial learning environment, whether that be disciplining a bully or ensuring that kids don't have access to porn on school computers.

Then remove the Internet from the schools You're absolutely ignorant if you believe there's even the slightest possibility that a school could block everything that could be distracting or dangerous or "immoral" or a "time waster", without completely crippling the Internet beyond beneficial use.

I see no reason to block ebay.

[Adil]

That cobra pic is a fake and I doubt such military helicopter is truly for sale on ebay at that ridiculous price.

>> ethan_h What are you talking about man???

[Bilbo Baggins]

This story is almost as funny as the Geforce 5 Ti 256 card that was on sale at ebay.

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Originally posted by AvexTrax

>> ethan_h What are you talking about man???

As I said earlier, nevermind. When I saw your post the images in your sig were being displayed as links, and throwing out the forum layout. One refresh later, and all was good.

[zootm]

Originally posted by rm'
Any middle school sysadmin dumb enough not to block Ebay.com also gets what he/she deserves. Of what possible educational use could Ebay be?

pens and pencil sets at competitive prices?

on the argument about this, the sites that are tempting but useless educatrionally, at least within school, should be blocked by sysadmin, but the teachers should be allowed to allow access if needs be... think about it this way- the schools have very low budgets as it is, and all this bandwidth will eventually begin to cost them real money.

[J. Burnaway]

Originally posted by SSJ4_Gogitta
Here's the $1.1M Helicopter.

COBRA (TAH-1F)

A $115,000 jet

Come on now, what 13 year old wouldn't want that helicopter? Sure as hell would impress the other kids at school, dropping that down in the parking lot and getting out with your backpack.

[ElChevelle]

A kids got to have something to put his G.I. Joes in

[deathazre]

Originally posted by Inatlantis
You can buy helicopters on ebay now? In a minute they will be letting you buy things with little pieces of plastic!

you mean plastique?

[mc^^^^]

i think the stupidest person here is his friens mum, not the school or anything, he is 13, he seeks to destroy, you cant say you were perfect when you were 13 can you? his friends mum should have kept her password a little more secret, thats what there there for.