Acetio | Blogma

Wired has The Seven Best Capers of 2008:

"The Plumas Lake Penny Pinch - If you've ever linked up your checking account to an online brokerage house or digital payment service, you may have noticed that the company automatically initiates one or two small deposits -- typically less than a dollar each -- for verification purposes. If you're hard up for cash, or just really bored, you might have thought, “if only there was a way to make real money off this ...” Twenty-two-year-old Michael Largent of Plumas Lake, California allegedly figured out a way: Volume! Prosecutors say Largent wrote a script that rapidly opened about 60,000 new accounts under aliases like Johnny Blaze and Hank Hill, then linked them all to a handful of bank accounts under his control. Largent allegedly accumulated some $58,000 in nickels and dimes from Schwab.com, E-Trade, and Google Checkout, and transferred the free money to pre-paid debit cards before the companies could renege on their generosity. The venture was ultimately thwarted by bank reporting regulations, and Largent is now facing federal computer and wire fraud charges."