The Times has an intriguing story on Shiva Brent Sharma, an Indo-Trinidadian from Richmond Hill, Queens. At the age of 20, he was convicted three times for identity theft, and he was the first person to be indicted under New York state’s special identity theft law.
Sharma was studying at Brooklyn Tech when he started to get interested in making money through identity theft. He learned the ropes of it through hacker sites, and started sending out “phishing” emails to thousands of AOL users to secure banking and credit card information via spoof websites. He used the money to buy cars and car parts, and stayed at upscale hotels in New York before he got caught. No one knows for sure how much he stole, but it’s in the range of $150,000.
Sharma made quite a number of illegal purchases almost immediately after being released on bail for an earlier infringement. Sharma is also married to a woman he met in high school, and has a kid; he only graduated high school in Rikers Island prison.
From the Times article, it’s hard to figure Sharma out. What made him do it? Drugs, gambling, a need to impress? Not necessarily any of the above:
Back at the correctional facility, Mr. Sharma struggled to find a clear explanation for his crimes. At times he suggested he was taking aim at a usurious banking industry. At other moments he offered that it was simply a game, that he was young, that he was not thinking clearly.
“Well, you know I mean there’s no, there’s no justification behind it at all,” he said. “You know it was wrong, and I did it it was wrong.”
He also suggested it all became too easy too fast.
“The challenge was really stopping, you know?” he said. “That was the hardest challenge of them all.” (link)
In short, no answers. Either he’s hiding something from the reporter, or he’s simply unable to understand his actions. But that’s life, isn’t it: you can’t always wrap up a criminal’s psychology from a couple of easy biographical details like they do on the television crime dramas.
Maybe Marvel Comics is onto something with their idea of a “Cyberpath” named Black Box (aka Commcast).
