from USA
WORLDWIDE TAXI FOCUS from Turkey
HACKERS JAILED FOR RIGGING NYC AIRPORT TAXI SYSTEM
Hijacking the taxi dispatch system at John F. Kennedy International Airport to help drivers skip the line has landed two men with several years behind bars. Daniel Abayev was sentenced to four years in prison, while Peter Leyman will serve two years after both pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to commit computer intrusion. Both will also get three years of supervised release and must pay more than $161,000 in forfeiture and $3.45 million in restitution. They worked with two Russian nationals, Aleksandr Derebenetc and Kirill Shipulin, who remain at large, according to US officials. Abayev and Leyman were helping taxi drivers skip to the front of the queue to pick up passengers at the airport. In return, they received a $10 fee. At JFK Airport, taxi drivers wait in a holding lot before the dispatch system calls them to pick up a passenger. It’s a first-come, first-served system that can result in hour-long waits for drivers. NYC residents Abayev and Leyman, came up with a scheme to hijack the taxi dispatch system, giving them control over which taxis could be at the front of the queue first. They conducted their scheme from at least Sep. 2019 to Sep. 2021, according to the US Justice Department. The suspects enlisted the hackers to help hijack the air- port’s dispatch system. “I know the Pentagon is being
hacked...so, can’t we hack the taxi industry[?]” Abayev wrote in a message to one of the Russian hackers. To pull off the hijacking, the suspects bribed someone to insert a USB drive carrying malware into the computers connected to the dispatch system. They also obtained access through a Wi-Fi connection and by stealing tablets connected to the dispatch system. The pair then began marketing the service to interested taxi drivers through word-of-mouth and via group chats. “Over the course of the scheme, they enabled as many as 1,000 fraudulently expedited taxi trips a day,” the Justice Department added. Abayev and Leyman “allegedly assisted by Russian hackers, wrought havoc on JFK’s electronic taxi dispatch system, impacting fair order and creating chaos for honest taxi professionals,” US Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
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TURKEY OUTRAGED BY MURDER OF TAXI DRIVER IN IZMIR
A taxi dashcam recorded the fatal shooting of a taxi driver in the western İzmir province by a passenger he was carrying, leading to outrage and raising concerns about safety in the streets. Taxi driver Oğuz Erge, 44, a married father of two, was fatally injured when he was shot three times at 3:30am on January 31 by 19-year-old Delil Aysal, the lone passenger in the taxi. Erge later died in hospital. Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced Erge’s death on X as the camera footage showing the shooting was widely circulated on social media. “The video footage made publicly available is deeply distressing due to the brutal response to kindness. We don’t doubt that the perpetrator will get the punishment he deserves,” the minister said. In the video footage the driver is heard telling Aysal that he picked him up at a late hour despite his suspicious appearance, so that he wouldn’t have to wait in the cold any longer. At the end of the trip, Erge is heard telling Aysal how much the fare is. Aysal takes a gun from his pocket and fires three shots from behind the driver. Later, he is heard slapping the driver and saying “You shouldn’t trust some people.” The attacker then collects bullet casings and searches the driver’s pockets in an apparent attempt to find money. According to Turkish media reports, Aysal was apprehended in the Buca district. Following the procedures at the police station, the suspect was referred to the court and subsequently arrested. Erge’s body was taken from the hospital to the morgue. 250 taxis followed the vehicle along the road, protesting the incident by honking their horns. The killing caused outrage on social media, with many condemning the incident and cabbies protest- ing the lack of personal safety during work and others complaining about lack of safety in the streets.
MARCH 2024 PHTM
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