A US man has been sentenced to nearly seven years in jail after attempting to fake his own death in order to avoid paying more than US$116,000 child support.
Jesse Kipf, 39, from Somerset, Kentucky, hacked the Hawaii Death Registry System in January 2023 and certified his own death using the stolen credentials of a physician living in another state. This single action resulted in Kipf being registered as deceased across numerous US government databases.
Kipf wasn't happy with just faking his own death and performed the same trick - using the stolen credentials of other people - to access death registry systems, private business networks, and governmental and corporate networks in other states. Having succeeded in doing this, he tried selling access to these networks to buyers on the dark web and admitted selling one company’s databases to Russians.
Kipf’s attorney stated that his client, a decorated veteran - Kipf was deployed to Iraq in 2007 and 2008 - had suffered psychological trauma resulting from the war and this had increased his drug addiction. This, in turn, “led to an increase in reckless and criminal behaviour” and that he "has been diagnosed with paranoid delusions and schizophrenic tendencies."
The prosecutor in the case acknowledged Kipf was a decorated veteran but said that his “online exploits displayed an unusual breadth, recklessness, and disregard for victims”, and that "he had been charged in Texas with fraudulent use of identifying information and in Nebraska with criminal possession of financial transaction devices."
The damage to the various computer systems Kipf hacked, as well as his failure to pay child support, amounted to more than $195,000.
“This case is a stark reminder of how damaging criminals with computers can be, and how critically important computer and online security is to us all," said Carlton S. Shier, IV, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. "Fortunately, through the excellent work of our law enforcement partners, this case will serve as a warning to other cyber criminals, and he will face the consequences of his disgraceful conduct."
