Things got a little out of hand when inmates across five prisons in Idaho somehow managed to exploit a vulnerability with special JPay tablets in place at each location. According to the Idaho Department of Corrections (via The Associated Press), almost 400 prisoners ended up jacking up their JPay account balances, racking up over $225,000 worth of credit to spend on music, stamps for email and video messages, books, games, and other fun stuff on the tablets.
The JPay tablets make for simple ways for prisoners to check out videos, games, or even communicate with their loved ones at home with video chats. Of course, people will find a way to exploit or totally mess things up eventually, so the prisoners pulled off this scheme by using the vulnerability, communicating how to do it with each other, then starting the chain by transferring $10,000 to the account of one prisoner. Then, 50 others added over $1,000 in credits.
JPay has taken action by blocking the prisoners from downloading games and music with their credits until the money is paid back, but email is still available. So far, JPay has gotten back about $65,000 of credits, and those involved have been disciplined accordingly. Though you've gotta hand it to 'em, that's some pretty sneaky business.
But when you're in prison, you really should probably appreciate what you've got in there. Perhaps the most surprising thing about this whole story is that prisoners get tablets in the first place...and that the tablets weren't taken away from those responsible.
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