German Hackers Engineer Some LA Trickery

One is a 17-year-old high school student in Duisberg; the other, a 23-year-old unemployed male in Wesel. Both still live with their German parents. Nevertheless, this unlikely pair was able to victimize from afar Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake and other pop superstars over a one-year period.

According to a report in the newspaper Bild, Deniz A. (a.k.a. DJ Stolen) and Christian M. simply emailed an MP3 file with an attached Trojan virus to reps for Gaga, Timberlake and other entertainers. Faster than you can say “Hasselhoff”, they were in possession of unreleased new tracks and, in one unidentified case, a compromising picture of a pop star.

“I’m a fan and I just wanted to have cool music,” Deniz A. was quoted by the newspaper as saying. “I’m no blackmailer.”

The duo earned more than $13,000 from the online sale of purloined songs and now have a 1,000-plus page police file ahead of charges expected to be filed in January. Other entertainers victimized included Kelly Clarkson and Ke$ha.

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