A Kentucky man has been jailed for nearly seven years for an audacious scheme to fake his own death and escape child support payments.
Jesse Kipf, 39, hacked into Hawaii's Death Registry System last January and created a bogus death certificate for himself.
The crafty conman even forged a doctor's signature to make the document appear legitimate.
His ruse worked and he was successfully registered as deceased in multiple government databases.
But his luck ran out when investigators uncovered the plot. Kipf admitted he orchestrated the scam to dodge over $100,000 in unpaid child support.
The hacker's crimes didn't stop there. He accessed other death registries and company systems using stolen login details from real physicians and workers.
Kipf then flogged access to these systems on the darknet - a shadowy corner of the internet favoured by cybercriminals.
He peddled stolen databases containing sensitive info like Social Security numbers to buyers as far afield as Algeria, Russia and Ukraine.
US Attorney Carlton S. Shier slammed Kipf's "cynical and destructive effort" to shirk his parental responsibilities.
The fraudster must serve at least 85 per cent of his 81-month sentence. He'll then face three years of probation.
Kipf's hacking spree and unpaid child support racked up a hefty bill of $195,758.65 in damages.
