Hacker Sentenced to 81 Months Imprisonment For Faking Death to Evade Child Support Payments

A Kentucky man, Jesse Kipf, has been sentenced to nearly seven years in prison for hacking into state registries to fake his own death in an attempt to avoid paying approximately $116,000 in child support. Kipf, 39, was convicted of computer fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Kipf’s scheme began in January 2023 when he accessed the Hawaii Death Registry System using the credentials of a physician from another state. He created a false death certificate for himself and used the digital signature of the doctor to certify his “death”. This fraudulent information was then entered into various government databases, marking him as deceased.

In addition to faking his death, Kipf hacked into other state registries in Arizona and Vermont, as well as private business networks. He attempted to sell access to these networks on the dark web and stole identities to open credit accounts. His actions caused significant damage, leading to nearly $80,000 in repair costs for the state death registries.

Kipf’s plan was uncovered when investigators seized his devices and found evidence of his research on whether faking his death would cancel his child support obligations. His search history included queries like “California child support arrears father died” and “remove California child support for deceased”.

In addition to his prison sentence, Kipf has been ordered to pay $195,758.65 in damages, which includes the child support owed to his ex-wife and the costs to repair the state registries. Carlton S. Shier, IV, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, described Kipf’s actions as a “cynical and destructive effort” to evade his responsibilities.

#Techspot

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