First ‘Wiretap’ on Internet Leads to Arrest of Three

The first “wiretap” on the Internet has led to the arrest of three people on charges of illegally selling and manufacturing electronic devices and cellular telephone cloning equipment, officials said Friday.

The devices included a “Lifetime Phone” capable of storing 99 stolen mobile identification number (MIN) and electronic serial number (ESN) combinations; a “Celltracker” that also allows the caller to eavesdrop on any nearby cellular conversation, and an “ESN Reader,” which allows the user to steal the MIN/ESN combinations, officials said.

Secret Service Agent Brian Gimlett told a news conference that over several months the government followed the alleged mastermind of the operation, Bernhard Bowitz, on the Internet, documenting his worldwide equipment sales. He said Bowitz claimed to have sold the equipment to drug traffickers.

Bowitz kept in touch with an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agent via an electronic mail account and met him several times to buy the illegal equipment, Gimlett said.

Gimlett, special agent in charge of the Secret Service field office in New York, displayed hundreds of seized cellular phones and other equipment that he said Bowitz tried to sell to agents, “thinking we were high-level criminals.”

The equipment seized included a transmitter the size of a cigarette lighter, a fountain pen used for eavesdropping and a listening device the size of a three-pronged wall outlet.

A criminal complaint filed with the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn charges that Bowitz, a German national; his wife, Rachel; and Gregory Brooks made the devices and that they were involved in money laundering.

“This is the first time that the Secret Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration were granted authorization to ‘wiretap’ over the Internet,” Gimlett said.

The investigation began in 1995 when an AT&T; Wireless Services employee “surfing the Net” noticed Bowitz had placed an ad for the sale of the illegal electronic devices.

A joint investigation was initiated by AT&T; and the New York Electronic Crime Task Force after Bowitz claimed to have sold the devices to criminals. The task force is made up of agents and officers from the Secret Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the New York Police Department.

Bowitz was being held after failing to make $500,000 bail. His wife has been released on personal bond in Las Vegas. Brooks has been released pending arraignment next month.