Outing An Online Outlaw

[bijou]

A TSG investigation unmasks the leader of Pranknet and the miscreants behind a year-long wave of phone call criminality

AUGUST 4--At 4:15 AM on a recent Tuesday, on a quiet, darkened street in Windsor, Ontario, a man was wrapping up another long day tormenting and terrorizing strangers on the telephone. Working from a sparsely furnished two-bedroom apartment in a ramshackle building a block from the Detroit River, the man, nicknamed "Dex", heads a network of so-called pranksters who have spent more than a year engaged in an orgy of criminal activity--vandalism, threats, harassment, impersonation, hacking, and other assorted felonies and misdemeanors--targeting U.S. businesses and residents.

Coalescing in an online chat room, members of the group, known as Pranknet, use the telephone to carry out cruel and outrageous hoaxes, which they broadcast live around-the-clock on the Internet. Masquerading as hotel employees, emergency service workers, and representatives of fire alarm companies, "Dex" and his cohorts have successfully prodded unwitting victims to destroy hotel rooms and lobbies, set off sprinkler systems, activate fire alarms, and damage assorted fast food restaurants.

But while Pranknet's hoaxes have caused millions of dollars in damages, it is the group's efforts to degrade and frighten targets that makes it even more odious. For example, a bizarre July 20 prank ended with a hotel worker actually sipping from a urine sample provided by a guest at a Homewood Suites in Kentucky. Additionally, at least twice this year, fast food workers--fearing that they would suffer burns after being doused by chemicals from a fire suppression system--stripped off their clothes on the sidewalk outside their respective restaurants. ...

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0803091pranknet1.html

This is long, but well worth the read. It is the story behind the series of 'phone pranks which have caused so much damage recently.

[vesta111]

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0803091pranknet1.html

This is long, but well worth the read. It is the story behind the series of 'phone pranks which have caused so much damage recently.

How this reminds me of one of the last Hidden Camera episodes.

A woman at an air port is approached by so called security guards that keep asking foolish questions.

When she finds out she missed her plane because of that stunt she hauls off and punches the TV host square in the nose.   A beautiful sight to behold.

[LC EFA]

How this reminds me of one of the last Hidden Camera episodes.

A woman at an air port is approached by so called security guards that keep asking foolish questions.

When she finds out she missed her plane because of that stunt she hauls off and punches the TV host square in the nose.   A beautiful sight to behold.

I actually wonder why this doesn't happen more often to those "hidden camera" type prank people.

[lastparker]

my favorite line from the story:

Offline friends--if they even exist--are minimal. He is part of that young male subspecies that does not have a job or a girlfriend, passed on college, and spends hours a day playing so-called first-person shooter games like "Counter-Strike," "Halo," and "Crossfire." Malik addresses everyone--including the Pranknet audience itself--as "Dude." He steals his Wi-Fi. And he'd certainly be living in his mother's basement if she had one.

[Texacon]

This douche lives less than an hour from me;

"Prankster" is Tyler Markle, who turns 19 later this month.

He lives with his mother and stepfather in a mobile home on a rural road in Diboll, Texas (pop. 5407), about 115 miles north of Houston. He is a 2008 graduate of Diboll High School and, like Pranknet founder Malik, is an avid player of first-person shooter games (he is known in that world as "RancidOneShot 2" and "N3v3rQu1t").

On a recently deleted MySpace page, Markle (whose full name is James Tyler Markle) listed his body type as "6' 6" / Athletic," though that is an exaggeration, according to one source. He plays on a recreational softball team, dresses like a goth, and loves the "Twilight" series of books (his Twitter account, "3DW4RD_B3LL4," is an alphanumeric tribute to the vampire saga's main characters). Markle also happens to be a regular at the area's only gay bar, though he is not old enough to drink and lists his orientation as "Straight" on his former MySpace page. Fellow patrons would likely be interested to learn of his frequent homophobic rants while on the Pranknet mic, not to mention his repeated threats to violate men and women with a chair leg.

KC

[JohnnyReb]

"Hello"

"Is this RancidOneShot 2?"

"Yes"
 
"The governor has denied your stay so just go ahead and get in the bathtub and plug yourself into the wall socket."

[Texacon]

"Hello"

"Is this RancidOneShot 2?"

"Yes"
 
"The governor has denied your stay so just go ahead and get in the bathtub and plug yourself into the wall socket."

 

H5

KC

[Gratiot]

This is long, but well worth the read. It is the story behind the series of 'phone pranks which have caused so much damage recently.

It was.  A pretty sickening assortment of individuals. 

[vesta111]

It was.  A pretty sickening assortment of individuals. 

This is nothing new, been going on for years.

Some interesting fellow on the east coast who worked for some medical office was calling patients and telling them he was their doctor.

He told the woman to undress as he could evaluate them on the phone. He had some poor old and young patients of that doctors putting ice cubes on their nipples and describing their sensations.

Then when My daughter started highschool as a transfer student I got a call from a man that said he was the school doctor who wanted me to send her her to the nurses office so he could examine her breasts.

I hung up and called the police, no help at all.

A year or  so later I found this caller had been around making calls to new students family's for YEARS

Some outraged family's had narrowed it down to one of the janitors at the school, but he was the nephew of some town council man/woman.

[bijou]

This douche lives less than an hour from me;

KC

TSG have found out more about him, he's a child molester ... http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0806091markle1.html

[Chris_]

TSG have found out more about him, he's a child molester ... http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0806091markle1.html

You didn't expect that he'd have a HEALTHY "social life", did you?

[Texacon]

TSG have found out more about him, he's a child molester ... http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0806091markle1.html

What a piece of shit.  Wait until the people of that town figure out what he's done. 

KC

[bijou]

You didn't expect that he'd have a HEALTHY "social life", did you?

I'm just wondering what his DU name is.

[Chris_]

I'm just wondering what his DU name is.

Wasn't one of teh ghey primitiven whining a few months ago about how he and his boyfriend couldn't get a new apartment, because the boyfriend was a registered pedophile (but he's a niiice guy!)?  I wonder where they call home these days...

[bijou]

Wasn't one of teh ghey primitiven whining a few months ago about how he and his boyfriend couldn't get a new apartment, because the boyfriend was a registered pedophile (but he's a niiice guy!)?  I wonder where they call home these days...

You're right, perhaps they moved to Texas.

[AllosaursRus]

You're right, perhaps they moved to Texas.

They need to move to hell! I'm sure the parents of the 5 year old would like to send him there, all expenses paid, one way!