Company Says Hilton's a Hacker...Lohan a Victim ?
Paris Hilton was recently terminated from her SpoofCard account for allegedly breaking into unauthorized voice mail boxes. SpoofCard calling cards offer the ability to change what someone sees on their caller ID display when they receive a phone call.
SpoofCard announced today that it had terminated the accounts of more than 50 customers, including Paris Hilton, who they claim used the SpoofCard service to obtain unauthorized access to voice mail accounts on a national mobile telephone network. Many of the terminated customers and the victims whose mailboxes were accessed are well-known celebrities, including Lindsay Lohan.
TMZ spoke with SpoofCard attorney Mark Del Bianco and he stated that "Paris was entering unauthorized [voice] mail boxes." When asked about Lindsay, he told us, "A number of the 50 persons [who were canceled by Spoofcard] were making unauthorized entrances to Miss Lohan's voice mail." A source close to the scandal also told TMZ that Nicky Hilton and Paris' ex-boyfriend Stavros Niarchos may have been involved.
TMZ contacted Leslie Sloane Zelnick, rep for Lindsay, who would only say "I have turned this matter over to Lindsay's lawyers."
Paris' rep Elliot Mintz told TMZ "I read the original release from Spoofcard and I read the quote given to TMZ by Mr. Del Bianco. A close reading of the press release and the comments do not accuse Paris of violating Lindsay's voice mail. She has not been accused of that. I find the statements by Spoofcard to be somewhat ambiguous and misleading. Also, historically, I can't think of anyone in America who has suffered more public humiliation over the invasion of her privacy as it pertains to communications devices than Paris Hilton."
SpoofCard discovered the activity while reviewing its customer call records for evidence of fraud and other prohibited conduct. The company is publicly announcing its action in order to discourage this type of activity and to alert mobile telephone networks and their customers to the need to protect voice mail access with passwords. SpoofCard has put software controls on its network so that customers can no longer use its service to break into the voice mail boxes of victims it has identified. In this case, Spoofcard told TMZ that it will cooperate with any law enforcement inquiry into possible violations of the Federal Stored Wire and Electronic Communications Act involving unauthorized access to voice mail boxes.
This cyber fued between the girls started last month, when Page Six ran an item that indicated the password to Lindsay's Blackberry had been leaked. Her rep told Page Six people were sending "disgusting and very mean messages that everyone thought were coming from Lindsay. They weren't. We now have her lawyers looking into it. Some people think Paris may have been involved because the wording of the messages sounds very familiar."
Elliot Mintz, Hilton's rep, denied his clients involvement and said "I'm saddened this happened to Lindsay. I lived through this with Paris two years ago when her Sidekick was hacked into, and the loss of privacy is unbearable. But as for any suggestion that Paris would have anything to do with this, that is silly, untrue and unfortunate."
