Twelve schoolboys have been arrested after they allegedly used someone else's password to access the Internet. The theft was discovered when the victim found his monthly bill had increased 58-fold.
Police are looking for at least 11 other unauthorised users. They are not sure whether the victim's login name and password were stolen or accidentally leaked by the account holder.
The victim, 45, told police on May 9 that his monthly Internet bill had risen in the first three months of this year from the usual $12 to about $700. The problem stopped when the victim changed his password.
With the help of the Internet service provider, officers identified more than 12 flats in Sheung Shui through phone lines that used the victim's account to go online. Twelve boys aged between 14 and 17 were arrested and 12 computers seized.
Assistant Sheung Shui divisional commander (crime), Chief Inspector Li Kwok-leung, said only three of the suspects knew each other. They are all secondary school students. 'They claimed they obtained the victim's login name and passwords from friends or a stranger in an ICQ chat room,' he said. One allegedly told police he had obtained the data from a friend in Australia.
Mr Li said the schoolboys could face a charge of gaining access to computers with criminal or dishonest intent, which carries a maximum jail term of five years.
