Busts

The big page of busts. Police and telecom action against sceners, BBSs, parties, and early internet pirates. Compiled by Menace and Dipswitch, with contributions by Marq and others. -Work in progress!-

Used sources:
- c64 diskmag wiki fulltext search
- several paper- and diskmags
- all textfiles in scene.org's /resources/docs/ dir
- csdb search for "bust*"
- scrolltexts.com search for "bust" and "cops"
- scrolltexts stored on the amigascne ftp
- textfiles.com
- defacto2
To do:
- csdb bios
- demozoo bios

Preliminary statistics 1984-1998 (19.11.2022)

Recorded incidents: 266 (-3 non-bust incidents)
Incidents without known reason/accusation: 77
Busts with known reason/accusation: 184

Reasons/accusations
(sometimes multiple reasons per bust - however, incidents are counted, not the number of busted people/boards):

Violations of software copyright (excl. commercial-scale sales): 54
Phreaking/hacking: 53
Calling card abuse: 25
Commercial-scale sale of software copies: 21
Stamp cheating: 17
Credit card fraud: 10
Raids of copyparties: 9
Sales of stolen hardware: 4
Other offences (theft/vandalism/drugs): 3
Distribution of illegal pornography: 3

Incidents per country:
(heavily biased by the choice and availability of primary sources)

Germany: 118
USA: 32
UK: 24
Sweden: 18
Denmark: 13
Belgium: 10
Norway: 8
Netherlands: 7
Finland: 6
Australia: 6
France: 5
Italy: 3
Switzerland: 3
Canada: 3
Poland: 3
Hungary: 2
Austria: 1
Hong Kong: 1
Luxembourg: 1
New Zealand: 1
Portugal: 1
Yugoslavia: 1

1984

1984-11-00 An anonymous Apple II cracker describes his bust and house search in sservice.txt (written in February 1985). His hardware and disks are confiscated, yet by February, he would receive most of his stuff back. He expects charges to be pressed in March.
1984-11-14 The first case against a software pirate is brought to court in Germany. (Source: Günter von Gravenreuth, „Schadenshöhe und Dunkelziffer im Bereich der Softwarepiraterie. Erste Anhaltswerte aus Ermittlungsverfahren“, in: Computer und Recht #2/1986, pp. 111–113)
1984-12-00 The house of a ZX Spectrum "hobby programmer" is searched under the assumption that he is selling pirate copies. (Source: Computer Kontakt #12/1984, p. 20)

1985

1985-00-00 Some members of German Cracking Service get busted by the police - making GCS one of the first cracking groups to fall prey to the 1985 copyright reform in West Germany. (Source: Recollection Cracker Map)
1985-08-00 Dr. Demento/Atari Pirates Inc. gets busted. He had been interviewed in the local newspaper "The Plain Dealer" on 4 August 1985 and was busted shortly afterwards because the police could decipher the phone number of his phone in a presumably anonymised photo. (Source: John Polka)

1986

1987-03-00 Austin, TX, police department had set up a BBS called Underground Tunnel and had it run for two years, before busting several of its users in late March 1986 for hacking and carding offences. (Source: Infoworld, 7 April 1986)

1987

1987-04-03 House search at a member of DS Compware. (Source: Letter from Irata to SCA, 4 April 1987)
1987-05-00 Mr. Pinge/Relax is summoned by the police for stamp cheating, receives only a reprimand. (Source: "A Warning")
1987-06-00 According to Microbyte, an unnamed German swapper is being brought to court for stamp cheating. (Source: Illegal #18)
1987-08-29 New Edition Copy Party 1987 is cancelled because someone informed the police. (Source: Illegal #21)

1988

1988-00-00 The Parade International/INXS gets busted "BECOZ AN OLD ENEMY OF MINE GAVE MY ADDRESS TO THOSE BASTARDS". (Source: Copbusted)
1988-00-00 "hacking in the usa has almost died since 1988 when a 64 sysop called the dictator was busted by the arizona police for phreaking. the police didn't know what to do with the guy's board so they let him put it back up and let the national security agency run the board to gather information on pirates and hackers." (Source: Skyhigh #11)
1988-00-00 Badd Boy/The Survivors gets busted for phreaking and "has to pay about 1000$ to the companies". (Source: Illegal #27)
1988-01-00 Bust wave of IBM PC pirate BBSs in the 612 area code (Minneapolis and surroundings). (Source: 612bust.txt)
1988-01-00 Amigo gets his house searched by the business inspectorate (Gewerbeaufsicht). (Source: Cracker Journal #1)
1988-02-00 Two Tristar members are "caught by the police". As Jeff Smart assumes, this is due to a Tristar group picture that was shot at Radwar Party and appeared in the German commercial home computer mag A.S.M. (Source: Illegal #27)
1988-02-25 The Shield Copy-Party 1988 is raided by the police, but not broken up. (Source: CSDb)
1988-03-00 Within some weeks, Black Sabbath, Diflex and KGB of The Level 99 Industries are caught by the police. (Source: Star Rank Boxing 2)
1988-03-00 Goodfather/Danish Cracking Crew is busted and, according to Swyx/Triangle, hands the police over 300 addresses. In the next weeks, several other people get busted, including Tiger/Dexion. (Source: Illegal #27)
1988-03-16 Profi wrote " My C64 career ended when the police searched my appartment on March 17th in 1988, because they found my address in a lamers house." (source: CSDB and c64.com interview)
1988-05-00 Members of Freestyle get arrested in the post office while picking up sendings from their PLK. (Source: Illegal #28)
1988-05-00 Steve and Ironfist are "arrested for stealing franked [sic] stamps from Steve's former employees [i.e. employer?]". (Source: Illegal #28)
1988-05-06 House searches at Marcel/DSI^MCG and Tom/MCG, two of the organisers of the MCG Party (see below). (Source: Illegal #28)
1988-05-07 MCG Party 1988 is allegedly the first copyparty in Germany to be broken up by the police. 17 Amigas, 20 C64s and 3000 disks are confiscated, 8 sceners are arrested. The incident is reported by the regional daily, WAZ, two days later ("Polizei verhinderte Marler Treffen von Computer-Crackern"). (Source: Cracker Journal #5)
1988-06-00 Will/Hotline is "caught by the police". (Source: Illegal #29, the date is an estimate)
1988-06-00 Jango/The Web is caught by the police. According to Jeff Smart, he then hands over 400 addresses to the police, leading to over 25 German C64 sceners getting their homes searched. Among those are Conan and Drago of Strike Force as well as Pershy and Creator of Across. (Source: Illegal #30 and Illegal 33. The date is en estimate, the whole process happend in the second half of 1988)
1988-07-00 Apollon/2000AD writes: "The real problem here [in Denmark] is the GODDAMN post offices! You see, we can't cheat with the stamps such as putting tape over them and so on because they have hired a special corps which task is to catch all stamp-cheaters... I've been caught twice and next time they'll turn me in to the police!" (Illegal #29)
1988-08-00 Spitfire/Xades Society gets busted. He writes: "THE COPS GOT ONLY 144 EMPTY (!) DISKS BECAUSE I'VE SEEN THEM WATCHING ME SOME DAYS BEFORE AND I'VE BROUGHT ALL MY FULL DISKS TO A FRIEND. THE COPS HAVE FOUND PAPERS AT SOME LOOSER'S HOME WITH MY ADRESS ON IT ... AND SO THEY CAME . BECAUSE THEY CAN COME BACK DAILY AND MY PARENTS ARE REALLY HYSTERIC, I'M NOT ABLE TO SWAP ANYMORE ." (Source: Back To Work 2)
1988-08-11 An Apple II pirate by the handle Blue Adept is visited by Sprint telecom firm representatives, accused of phreaking, and presented a large bill. (Source: dsthebus.txt)
1988-10-16 Police arrive at the JOY-MGF-WWE Party, but do not do anything. (Source: Legalize It)
1988-10-24 House search at Irata/RSI. (Source: Cracker Journal #10)
1988-12-00 Mr.Dealer/Waste has his house searched by the police. (Source: News #1/1989)
1988-12-00 "Oli of WOW was caught, because of hacking. MCI called his father and told him everything. So his father cancelled his telephone. It is sure, that Oli will get an denunciation." (Cracker Journal 11)
1988-12-07 Eight members of The Movers and Strike Force are raided by the police. The bust puts an end to the activity of both groups. (Source: Recollection Cracker Map)

1989

1989-00-00 Breaker/Paramount is busted, as a consequence he "goes legal" and starts coding a game. (Source: Good Bye)
1989-00-00 Baal/WOT is "caught by the cops". (Source: Pirates #6)
1989-00-00 Big Brother/Druids writes: " WHAT A FUCK, FIVE DAYS AGO A COP VISITED ME !!! OFCOURSE HE DIDN'T FIND ANYTHING EXCEPT FIVE PUPLIC DOMAIN DISCS FEATERING DEMOS OR SELFMADE ROUTINES. BUT THE COPS ARE NOT ABLE TO DISTUNGIUSH BETWEEN FREE WARE AND CRACKED GAMES. SO HE TOOK EVERYTHING ( FIVE DISCS !! HAHAHAHA !!!)." (Source: X-Ter-C)
1989-00-00 Mad All/CFR is caught by the Belgian Post for stamp cheating. Charges are not being pressed, but his postbox gets closed. (Source: Illegal #32)
1989-00-00 After Swedish TV airs an interview with Karl XII about phone fraud via VISA cards, Viper and Alchemist of Fairlight get arrested. (Source: Pirates #5)
1989-00-00 Steven/Level99 is "caught by the police". (Source: Pirates #5)
1989-00-00 Peter/Crazy is caught by AT&T for phreaking. (Source: Letter from Peter to Arny, 1989)
1989-01-00 Some French members of the Amiga group Ackerlight are caught by the police. (Source: Illegal #35)
1989-01-28 The Maniacs & Psygon Copyparty 1989 is raided by the police, the participants have to spend several hours in custody. The incident is reported by the regional radio station, SWF3. (Source: News #3/1989 and Sex'n'Crime #1)
1989-02-00 Amstrad CPC swapper Virus appears in court, is sentenced to a 2000 DM fine. (Source: Crackers International #3)
1989-02-02 Shizzcat/Victory gets beaten up and arrested by the Yugoslav police for using a youth club's phone line to call sceners abroad. (Source: Illegal #36)
1989-03-04 Sharks Copy Party 1989 is "busted by the police". (Source: Illegal #36)
1989-05-00 House search at Jeff Smart, editor of the "Illegal" papermag. (Source: "That's It")
1989-05-00 Snacky "was caught by the police. so, he went to the police-office and got all his disks back. nothing happened and he will continue cracking." (Source: Sex'n'Crime #3)
1989-05-21 Amstrad CPC swapper D.B. has his house searched by the police, has 400 disks confiscated. (Source: Crackers International #4)
1989-05-23 Amstrad CPC swapper Mister X has his house searched by the police, has 247 disks confiscated. Charges are dismissed already on 16 June. (Source: Crackers International #5)
1989-06-00 Members of Level 99 "were caught, so they will stop swapping and start coding games". (Source: Cracknews #5)
1989-10-00 Stingray/Crazy is busted for calling card abuse. (Source: Aussie Games)
1989-10-00 A programmer at the French game development company Titus is arrested for leaking a pre-release copy of the game "Knight Force" to Red Sector Inc.. He spends two days in jail before deciding to hand over the addresses of his scene contacts to the police, which leads to further busts in several European countries, as well as the raid on the Bamiga Sector 1 party (see below). (Source: Criminal #1, the month is an estimate)
1989-10-12 Roy/Dynamix is caught by the police. (Source: Sex'n'Crime #8)
1989-10-13 TJ/Success is caught by the police. (Source: Sex'n'Crime #8)
1989-11-00 Archie/The Golden Triangle is "caught by the cops". (Source: Lunatic)
1989-11-15 House search at Rumrunner/Exterminators. (Source: Zine #2)
1989-11-18 The Bamiga Sector 1 Copyparty 1989 is raided in a cooperation effort by the Dutch and French police in a follow-up to the bust at the Titus software house. Six police cars arrived, the party place gets encircled, everybody has to be registered by the police before leaving, and disks, hardware and adress books are being confiscated. (Source: numerous party reports listed here)
1989-12-19 House search at Marty/Radwar. Charges are dropped already on 19 January 1990. (Source: Marty's criminal proceedings)
1989-12-22 Asterix and Mantronix of Fantasy are busted for phreaking. (Source: Busted!)

1990

1990-00-00 Sham/Zone 45 is busted by the post for stamp cheating, gets a reprimand. He describes his ordeal in detail in Busted
1990-00-00 Luigi/Pioneers is busted, the police take away his computer and 150 disks. (Source: Just Like Booze)
1990-00-00 Track 18/Spherical Designs is busted. He writes: "A FEW WEEKS AGO I CAME HOME FROM SCHOOL AND LOOKED INTO MY ROOM. BUT THERE WAS SOMETHING STRANGE. NEXT MY LITTLE C-64, WHERE NORMALLY THE DISC-BOX STANDS, WERE NOTHING - ABSOLUTLY EMPTYNESS L!* "OH FUCK L!G - THE COPS !" I THOUGHT AND WAS RIGHT. THEY CAME AND TOOK ALL THE DISX. IN THE EVENING I HAD TO COME TO THE POLICE OFFICE TO GIVE MY EVIDENCE. AT THE OFFICE THERE WAS A VERY FRIENDLY COP WHO ALLOWED ME TO TAKE ALONG THE MOST OF MY DISCS. THE REST WILL BE TESTED IN HANNOVER." (Source: Phase 1)
1990-00-00 Police search the premises of the German scener-run game company Thalion. Called by suspicious neighbours, the police appears and confiscates disks, however the misunderstanding can quickly be cleared up. (Source: Marco Breddin, Breakin’ the Borders. A True Story of Digital Liberation and Power Without the Price, Hannover 2017, pp. 258, 360)
1990-00-00 The house of MWS/Radwar gets searched. He reports about it in detail in the German commercial Amiga magazine "Amiga Special". (Source: Amiga Special #9/1990, pp. 42-43)
1990-00-00 Sonix/WWE is caught by the Dutch Post for stamp-cheating and "has to pay some money". (Source: Pirates #8)
1990-01-00 Macryf/Action is busted for stamp cheating and quits the scene. (Source: Bodo Illgners Super Soccer)
1990-01-24 House search at Flash Games/Vision. (Source: Letter from Flash Games to all his contacts, 24 January 1990)
1990-04-00 Craig/Lazer is busted. (Source: Star Trash +)
1990-04-07 The Cryptoburners, IT and Visual Arts Party 1990 is shut down by the police. The party place opened at 14:00, and about 400 people attended. At 17:00, police arrived to shut down the party. They sieged the building, turned off the electricity and entered. The first room they entered was where Fraxion was busily copying videos. The police proceeded to announce the party was cancelled, and many people panicked - trying to exit the party place in any way possible. The reason for the police raid was software distributors (namely BJ Electronics and Tanum Data) who had tipped the police off about the party, wanting it stopped. (Source: Demozoo and CSDb entries))
1990-05-09 Operation SunDevil: PC boards and individuals are busted in the US for hacking, phreaking and carding. More than 40 computers and 22.000 disks were confiscated. Busts occured in Miami (Florida), New York (New York), Richmond (Virginia), Plano (Texas), Detroit (Michigan), Phoenix (Arizona), Chicago (Illinois), Cincinnati (Ohio), Newark (New Jersey), San Diego and San Jose (California), Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania), and Los Angeles (California). Among the known busted boards was Billionaire Boys Club. (Source: The Pirate World #1)
1990-06-00 Nosah/DCS is busted. (Source: Corruption #4)
1990-06-02 Policemen enter the Alcatraz Pentcost Party 1990, but limit themselves to observing the scenery and taking photos. One policeman even lets himself be interviewed by a "Zine" editor, stating that they are here only to observe that Swiss laws are being upheld, and those do not prohibit making software copies. (Source: Zine #6)
1990-07-00 Raven/Crypt is busted. (Source: Busted)
1990-09-00 Sting/Paramount is "busted by the cops". (Source: Fatal News #7)
1990-09-14 "today is a one of the sadest days in the swedish scene ! today 14/9 walker/paragon got busted for swapping! yes the first person in sweden. this is the final step that will surely
destroy the swedish scene! we have much to learn from our german mates! don't turn in your friends nor your enemies!" (Fatal News #7) However, there was a correction in Fatal News #8: "i wrote that walker/paragon got busted, but in fact he only got busted for have being cheating with stamps!"
1990-10-00 Metallica "was cought [sic] by the police, but he will continue his activities." (Source: Zine #7)
1990-10-00 Pride/Flash Prod. is caught by the post for stamp cheating, but is let off with a reprimand and threatened with a fine of 25.000 dkr. or three years in jail in case he does it again. (Source: Zine #7)
1990-11-05 Majesty is busted for blueboxing. (Source: Majesty Busted)
1990-12-00 Lucifer is busted by Police for using the phone lines of the local bus company to call bbs'es all over Europe and the USA. (Source: I.C.E. #1)

1991

1991-00-00 Jazzy D/Chromance is "busted by the post". (Source: Fatal News #10)
1991-01-00 Brainkiller/Legend is "busted by the BRITISH TELECOM. he phreaked for bf 120.000 in one week-end and was told to pay a fine of bf 60.000. brainkiller decided NOT to pay and wait..." (Source: Internal #4)
1991-01-17 House search at TMA/Tristar. Charges are dropped on 23 May 1991. (Source: TMA's criminal proceedings)
1991-03-00 Thor/Random is busted for phreaking. (Source: Mamba #17)
1991-03-00 The Arrogance/X-Ray is busted, the police confiscates some disks. (Source: Mamba #17)
1991-03-00 Yaemon/Depredators is busted for stamp cheating. (Source: Brutal Recall #2)
1991-05-00 Raze/X-Ray is busted. (Source: Emanuelle #4)
1991-06-00 Maniac/Brutal is busted for stamp cheating. (Source: Brutal Recall #4)
1991-06-00 Roy/Victims is busted for blueboxing. (Source: Corruption #10)
1991--07-07 The bbs The Red October was raided by Novell attorneys occompanied by five federal marshals. (source: Phrack volume 3 issue #33)
1991-07-00 Andre/Gloom "was busted by the cops. the[y] found about 20 addresses and took about 500 discs with them." (Source: Emanuelle #6)
1991-08-00 Aaron/Fairlight "got busted by the cops, due to cheating with the stamps, also the cops wrote down the addresses from the envelopes. aaron says there's nothing to fear." (Source: Gamers Guide #13)
1991-09-00 Tab/Addonic is busted by the police, 800 disks are confiscated. (Source: Sweet Dreams #2)
1991-10-00 Grim Reaper/NEC is busted for calling card fraud. (Source: Internal #11)
1991-10-00 Complex Softbank BBS is busted by police on the initiative of the Finnish game importer/distributor Toptronics. A month later, several pay account users of the BBS are summoned to the police station for questioning. (Source: SF Elite BBS #8 & #12)
1991-11-01 "PARSON OF DCS WAS BUSTED ON THE AMI EXPO BY THE COPS COZ HE PAINTED WITH A BIG WATER PROOF PEN A BIG DOUGHNUT CRACKING SERVICE LOGO ON THE WALL.. BUT AFTER SOME MINUTES HE COULD LEAVE THE POLICE STATION AGAIN AND ENTERED THE AMI EXPO AGAIN..." (Source: Just For Fun)
1991-11-00 The Ozz, sysop of Drop Zone BBS, is busted. (Source: Propaganda #3)
1991-12-00 Ghost/Razor Express is busted for stamp cheating and has to pay a 1500 dkr fine. (Source: Brutal Recall #8)

1992

1992-00-00 Moron/Paradize "got busted". (Source: Propaganda #6)
1992-00-00 Tristan/SCS+TRC is busted for phreaking. As he told in an interview some years later, "Because I was a kid, the US Secret Service placed me under investigation. When I turned 18 they nabbed me for hiting MCI for $220,000 dollars in access device fraud and sale of services. I served 2 years in a medium security federal prison." (Source: Domination #7)
Early 1992 "carding" bust wave
↳ 1992-01-00 A bust wave shakes the North American PC warez scene in connection to so-called "carding" (i.e. ordering hardware using stolen credit card numbers, sometimes involving subsequently reselling it). The bust involves, first and foremost, Grim Reaper/TDT, The Not So Humble Babe/Fairlight PC, and Genesis/USA, who were arrested in the US, and Optical Illusion in Canada who was arresting while trying to resell "carded" hardware. Many PC warez sceners subsequently went into hiding or quit the scene, several sysops turned off their BBSs. A compilation of contemporary textfiles about the affair can be read as usabust.txt, A news article from 3 February 1992 can be read under bustnews. Even C64 magazines reported about the affair: "Are We The Best?" wrote: "What [the FBI] found was a major fraud and pirateconspiracy with a girl in the center. They found a lot of addresses and also phone numbers of major boards. She can get between 5 to 30 years in prison..." (Source: Are We The Best? #7).
↳ 1992-01-31 Static/USA, cosysop of Enterprize Elite BBS, is busted. (Source: morebust.nfo)
↳ 1992-12-00 Pepsi Man of The Dream Team gets busted for credit card fraud in connection to the bust of Grim Reaper (see above). (Source: tdt-bust.nfo)
1992-02-27 Deadshot is busted for calling card fraud. The police make him "call every BBS he was on, they got his notebook with all BBS numbers and passwords." (Source: Deadshot Busted)
1992-03-00 Scanner/Security is busted. (Source: World News #13)
1992-03-11 Three Danish C64 sceners - Dogfriend/Dominators, Duke/Dominators, and Janec/G*P - are busted for phreaking and calling card abuse. (Source: bustinfo.txt and Propaganda #5). At the same time, Hulkster/Dominators is busted "for selling pirated videos" (Source: Propaganda #6). The case makes it into national TV news as the police finds weapons and explosives at Hulksta's place (Source: Brutal Recall #10).
1992-03-20 The newspaper Helsingborgs Dagblat reports of a trial against the 45-year old sysop of Scandia BBS, which had been reported to the police by the Business Software Association. It is said to be the first such trial before a Swedish court. (Source: busted!.txt)
1992-06-00 Pepsi/Pulsar is "busted by TELECOM australia for phone phreaking. they were waiting for him to make his move on the phone box!! the charges are a $ 25.000,-- australian dollars fine!" (Source: Emanuelle #9)
1992-07-00 Two Portuguese adolescents are busted for large-scale credit card fraud. It unclear whether they were scene members, but it is likely, given that the news was distributed via an English-language textfile on scene boards, and the presence of a small number of Portuguese hackers/phreakers in the international scene. (Source: pbust.txt)
1992-08-00 Stormbringer/Clique is visited by the police "but they didn't find anything illegal". (Source: Brutal Recall #12)
1992-10-00 Rash is rumoured to having been busted by AT&T for calling card abuse. (Source: Swiss Modem Charts #5)
1992-10-00 Two BBSs, Stairway To Heaven and Monkey Island, are busted. The case goes to court four years later, in 1996. (Source: Belgian Glory 6)
1992-10-28 15 homes are searched in Berlin due to alleged commercial software piracy, several boards are busted. The busts are mentioned in mainstream media. The BBSs mentioned in the news reports are M3 Evolution, Charlottenburger Pinte, Celtic Cross and Nostromo. It seems like the affected sceners were PC pirates. (Sources: razztaz.txt, raubtsp.txt, rs-bbs.txt)
1992-10-29 Attempted house search at the flat of TBB/Arcade. (Source: Bulletproof #6)
1992-11-00 Majesty is busted once again "for abusing local PBX's, spreading copyright protected software and blue boxing". (Source: Propaganda #8)
1992-11-00 Sir Maniac/RSI is busted "for carding 10 Sega Mega drives". (Source: Propaganda #8)
1992-11-00 In november and december, approximately 15-20 people in Norway were busted for phreaking and hacking. No less than 14 boards were taken down; Creep Show (Chamaeleon/Cryptoburners), Extension (Assassin/Delight), Gutz n' Glory (Warrior/DID), Moonage Daydream (?), Niteline (Buzz/DID), No Access (The Animal), Pure Metal Line (Anders/Pure Metal Coders), Purple Haze (Lazerbrain/Crusaders), Sudden Impact (Inzane/Zenith), The Maze (Skykiller), The Pyramid, The White House (Micro-Pal), Total Panic/Crusaders (One/Crusaders) and one more. The companies BJ Electronics, Scala A/S and Commodore Norway were apparently "behind" the raids, having reported the crimes to the Police. Additionally, Gizmo/Cryptoburners was busted for hacking and spent two weeks in police detention, while Edison/TDD was caught using stolen Visa credit cards. (source: Upstream 1)

1993

1993-00-00 Sandman is busted for phreaking in allegedly one of the biggest cases of telecom fraud in New Zealand. (Source: Codetapper's Website)
1993-00-00 Lucifer, sysop of the Empire of Darkness BBS, is busted for for "warez & porno". (Source: Criminal Intent #1)
1993-01-00 Motley/Genesis Project "GOT CAUGHT BY THE POLICE" (source: Skyhigh 1). Two years later, in March 1995, Propaganda #16 reports: "Two years after being busted, MOTLEY/GENESIS*PROJECT goes to trial, with charges of over 3OOOO dollars at his head. A few days of sweat and negotiations, the lawyers settle and MOTLEY walks out with 3OO dollars to pay, and being on probataion [sic]. This triggers a somewhat slower period for him, since if doing anything, prison would be the only way to go." According to the magazine, Motley was accused of hacking.
1993-01-00 Gang$ta is visited by the police who try to get information on other members of the Australian illegal PC scene. (Source: Criminal Intent #1)
1993-02-08 Ford Perfect has his door knocked down by the police, who proceed to search for computer and copiers. Apparently they had tapped his phone, but do not have enough evidence to arrest him. (Source: fordbust.zip)
1993-03-18 MST, sysop of Southern Comfort BBS, is busted. (Source: sc.bust)
1993-04-00 Gene and Hero/Illusion get busted "for phone fraud, eg At&t and tollfree number abuse. Other sources say Gene got busted for selling tons of Pc wares." (Source: Propaganda #9)
1993-04-00 A textfile, presumably written by an anonymous employer of Nintendo America, is circulating on the BBSs, warning of upcoming board busts to be initiated by Nintendo and AT&T. (Source: nin-take.txt)
1993-04-16 Krypton, former sysop of Control Tower BBS, is visited by the police. As the BBS had been offline for 5 months prior to the bust, sceners suspect that the police is using old BBS lists to conduct busts. (Source: bust.txt)
1993-04-22 Wavespeed BBS is busted. (Source: wave.bust!)
1993-05-00 Runesmaster is busted. (Source: The Pulse #1)
1993-05-06 Treasure Island BBS (sysop: Executioner) is busted, all equipment is confiscated. It is the first BBS in the UK to be busted by the police. (Source: bustcnfm.txt)
1993-05-17 Wolf/F4CG is busted for hacking. (Source: Busted)
1993-05-18 Mayday BBS is busted. (source: mayday.txt)
1993-06-21 Shadow Man, sysop of Carrier in Space BBS, is busted. The police does not confiscate the BBS computer, but only a modem, 900 disks, and a notebook with addresses and numbers of other sceners. (Source: BUSTED.TXT)
1993-06-25 Magic Force BBS is busted, the police confiscates the BBS Amiga and about 5000 disks. (Source: BUSTED.TXT)
1993-06-29 Icehouse BBS is busted. The house search took 3 house, the police confiscated a streamer tape, 3 modems and an A4000. (Source: icehouse.bst)
1993-08-00 Depeh/Antic is busted for stamp cheating. "That happend as he used copies of swedish 2.90 SKR stamps. The cops found his addy on an disc-protection and even Creeper/ANTIC got a call from the cops but didn´t tell that he knows a guy in Skovde (Depeh). Anyway the cops found him and as he is meanwhile 18 years old he is got added in the police register and has to pay at least 900 SKR. Besides he was mentioned in a local news paper! (Source: Reformation #4)
1993-08-03 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas BBS (sysop: The Doctor) is busted by the FBI, after having been online for ten years. (Source: feardead.txt)
1993-10-00 SCUD is busted for stamp faking. (Source Nevermind #39)
1993-10-00 The Shadow/Avatar is busted "for code abuse". (Source: The Pulse #5)
1993-10-23 Neil/Fairlight is visited by the police, who confiscate five disks and take no other equipment with them. Neil assumes that someone whom he had sold disks to turned him in. (Source: bustindk.txt)
1993-11-00 Several BBSs in Sydney are busted, including Terminal Velocity and The Cove. (Source: tvbust.txt)
1993-11-00 Access Denied BBS is busted, as well as "Michelangelo and some other traders from TRSI" (Source: access.bust).
1993-11-25 Drunken Rom is busted. He had provided TRSI and Faith with originals bought from Rushware that had a secret checksum implemented. He is held in custody for 6 hours, the police found several addresses and phone numbers. (Source: cx!-fact.txt)
1993-11-30 Susieuzi and Grego of Illusion get "busted for hacking and phreaking". During the house search, all equipment, books, and notes are confiscated. (Source: Pirates #15). In a noter two years later, Grego, sysop of In Living Color BBS, tells more about his bust. He was busted for hacking and phreaking and had all his hardware, incl. the BBS setup, confiscated. After several court sessions he was put on probation. (Source: In Living Color BBS Bust)
1993-12-00 An anonymous Canadian PC sysop tells about his bust and warns against future busts initiated by Nintendo and SEGA. (Source: warning.txt)
1993-12-00 A series of raids are conducted on the initiative of SEGA against BBSs hosting pirate copies of SEGA console games. Brujjo Dihital, Caffeine and others get raided. A textfile warns: Sega has mafia [BBS]'s enitire sega directory so that means they know who uploaded the warez, they also have subpoena bell atlantic to get anyones number. If you were a user on Mafia and were very active then watch out. (Source: bustmore.txt)
1993-12-21 Arcadia BBS (sysop: Beast) is busted by the police and FAST. It is the second BBS to be busted by police in the UK. (Source: bustcnfm.txt)

1994

1994-01-00 The Warlord/RMJCC is busted for hacking. (Source: The Pulse #8)
1994-01-00 Cynosure BBS is busted. Evidence of this BBS is preserved in an Associated Press news dispatch from April 1994. According to it, the sysop ran the BBS from the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) between November 1993 and January 1994, using MIT workstation computers to operate the BBS and to store files. It is unknown to which platform scene the sysop and the BBS belonged, whether and which groups it affiliated etc. The sysop was indicted "on one felony count of conspiring to commit wire fraud".
1994-01-11 Midnight Maniac/Paradox is busted "due to large scale sale of pirated software". (Source: pdx-bst.txt)
1994-01-12 Nazguls Tower BBS is busted. (Source: nazguls.txt)
1994-03-00 Lucifer, sysop of Phiberc0m BBS, is busted. (Source: Propaganda #13)
1994-03-00 Barfly and Dr. Acid of Extend are busted for calling card fraud. (Source: Reformation #8)
1994-03-02 Evil Mind, sysop of Reign in Blood BBS, gets busted. The police confiscates 300 disks, addresses and calling cards. (Source: bust.txt)
1994-03-07 Wave Rebel/Depth SF is busted for calling card abuse. (Source: phuk-cc.txt)
German Spring 1994 bust wave
↳ 1994-03-11 Over 20 Germans get busted for blueboxing and calling card abuse, including Irakis, Zeus, and Kimble. (Source: busty.txt and wzbust.txt) A detailed info text from 27 March reveals more details on the bust. According to this, Zeus had been selling hardware dialers through a middleman who got busted, getting Zeus himself busted as well, who was held in pre-trial custody for approx. nine weeks, while the police went on to bust his contacts, the data of which they had acquired during the house search. Paralelly, BBSs and sceners were busted in Munich, including Kimble and Magic Drummer who had been dealing with stolen calling card numbers. Following that, until 18 March, police had searched over 60 apartments in Germany. In Dortmund alone, 12 boards were busted. Most of the search warrants were not on the grounds of software piracy, but blue boxing and calling card fraud. (Source: bust!nfo.txt)
↳ 1994-03-00 A German scener by the name of Mr.Zeropage has his house searched and his dialer and telephone bills confiscated. It is unclear whether the person in question is identical to the legendary C64/Amiga cracker Mr.Zeropage. (Source: busting.txt)
↳ 1994-03-22 Palace BBS (sysop: Jedi) is busted. (Source: palacebu.txt)
↳ 1994-04-19 Beginning with 19 April, between 44 and 47 German BBSs are being busted, while another 30 to 40 go offline. A detailed list of busted BBSs is contained in the following textfiles. Several textfile authors suspect Kimble to be the traitor. (Sources: cc-final.txt, busts!!.txt, bustupd.txt, lgc-bst1.txt, never!.txt and bustfaq2.txt)
↳ 1994-04-19 Goldfire BBS is busted. (Source: bust-gol.lha)
↳ 1994-04-19 Top Gun BBS is busted. (Source: tgunbust.txt)
↳ 1994-04-19 Jive of TRSI Console, sysop of Neo Geo, has a house search. The police takes only some disks, as Jive hid his Amiga 4000 in a safe place. The BBS was not busted, but remained offline ever since. (Source: JV!BUST.TXT)
↳ 1994-04-21 House search at Bomber, sysop of Pearl Harbour BBS. An Amiga, a PC, and a TV set are confiscated. (Source: bustthhg.txt)
↳ 1994-10-03 According to an article in in the Los Angeles Post from 3 October 1994, reproduced in a scene-circulated textfile, Knight Shadow, an employer at MCI, is arrested for massive theft of calling card numbers. According to a comment by the anonymous producer of the textfile, the arrest is connected to the earlier arrest of Kimble in Germany.
1994-05-00 Deadbeat/The Sharks gets busted "for using an illegal phoneline". (Source: Skyhigh #11)
1994-07-00 Easy Rider is busted for phreaking by Polish Telecom and has to pay about $5.000. (Source: The Thing 15.5)
1994-07-27 No Respect BBS is busted. Police confiscates all hardware, disks, and a console copier. The sysop, Trade, announces to leave the scene. (Source: bust!.txt)
1994-08-23 Skara Brae BBS is busted. (Source: skara.bust)
1994-10-00 Second World BBS (sysop FCKW) is busted. (Source: nfofile in GTA-LUFT.ZIP, date is an estimate)
1994-10-00 The Bonzai BBSs Spyrits Home and Love Like Blood are busted. (Source: Nevermind #62)
1994-10-00 The Fresh Prince/Motiv8 is busted for calling card fraud. (Source: Domination #2)
1994-10-11 MCI, sysop of No Limit BBS, has his house searched, his equipment confiscated, and spends time in investigative custody. (Source: text.lha) However, another textfile, notbust.txt, claims that MCI was not busted, but just pretended to having been busted in order to leave the scene with a bang.
1994-11-00 Silencer is busted for calling card abuse. The local newspaper Hälsinge Kuriren reports in detail a year later, shortly before the trial that was supposed to happen in early 1996. (Source: silbust.txt)
1994-11-00 The Yench is busted by the police for dealing with stolen hardware. (Source: Dream Charts 1)
1994-12-00 Bust wave in Belgium due to calling card fraud and commercial CD-ROM piracy. 13 houses are searched in Antwerp, Herentals, Hasselt and Kessel-Lo. Among the busted are RoboCod, Lithium and his Consolia BBS, Bonzai BBS and a number of commercial pirates. (Source: Belgian Glory #5 and Belgian Glory 6)

1995

1995-00-00 A major round of busts happened in the 514 area code (Montreal, Canada) in which 11 bbs'es were taken down - Twins, The Underworld, Perfect Crime, Red Alert, Lineup, Skull Island, Restricted Area and 4 more. (source: The Word 6).
1995-01-08 A few days earlier, several Australian sceners were busted for blue boxing - namely Teacher (who was cited as 'the main cc supplier for the aussies'), Kurupt, Fugitive, Tone Def (Source: aussies_busted.txt)
1995-01-08 Cosmic Circus BBS (sysop: Generation) gets busted. (Source: bust.txt)
1995-02-00 Ninja, sysop of The Ultimate Sin BBS, is visited by the police and accused of PBX abuse. (Source: Propaganda #16)
1995-02-08 Noname BBS and a number of Amiga BBS users are busted in the Bielefeld-Paderborn area. (Source: bust95.txt)
1995-02-21 A commercial software pirate, who advertised his CD-ROM services on BBSs, is arrested. The case is reported in the newspaper Jyllands Posten. To easen his fate, the pirate gives the police information about scene BBSs. As a result, Mercyful Fate BBS (sysops: Black Hawk and Metal Force) gets busted. (Source: bust_dk.txt, bust_dk2.txt and Pacmag #36)
1995-02-23 Fast Jack/Texmac gets busted by the police. (Source: vanbus.txt)
1995-02-28 House search at Wize, sysop of Waterdeep BBS. Police and SIMP arrive and take notes about his computer equipment. (Source: bust-swe.txt)
1995-03-02 A BBS user called D-Tribe is busted by the police. (Source: attent.txt)
1995-03-04 A house search is conducted at Scully, sysop of Prospect Park BBS. The police and SIMP search for evidence, but nothing is confiscated. (Source: busted.txt)
1995-03-24 An Amiga scener by the name of Global Warrior is busted by police and British Telecom for phreaking. He was using traced 0800 PBX numbers. He is questioned and released on bail. (Source: bust-bt.txt)
1995-04-00 Hain/F4CG is "busted for phreaking but was let go, his phone line is apparently monitored." (Source: Domination #4)
1995-05-00 Flying Bit/GTA is busted together with his BBS Flying's Home. The case gets wide news coverage as Flying Bit is working in an IT company that has the German Parliament among its clients. (Source: bundestg.txt)
1995-05-00 Mizar/Motiv8 is busted for phreaking. "According to MIZAR, he was turned in by his mother in law - who MIZAR claims hates his guts." (Source: The Pulse #15 and Domination #4)
1995-05-00 Bitman/F4CG is busted "for hacking internet-accounts". (Source: The Pulse #15)
1995(?)-05-03 It, sysop of Home Alone BBS, is busted by police and Telenor for telephone fraud. (Source: newbust.txt - year is an estimate)
1995-06-00 An Amiga BBS trader named Poodle is busted. (Source: pdl_godb.txt and podbust.txt)
1995-06-00 A scener called Handy Boy and another unnamed person are busted by TeleCom Italia for phreaking. (Source: newbust!.txt)
1995-06-04 Dansken/Access is arrested by the Swedish police and kept in jail for one night on suspicion of dealing with stolen hardware. (Source: acs-bust.nfo)
1995-07-00 Buzz Wipe and Magz decline rumours that they had been busted. (Source: nibust.txt)
1995-07-13 The Village BBS (Quartex HQ & Razor 1911 UKHQ) is busted, the hardware is confiscated. The sysop, Da Prisoner, has a house search under the pretext of "stolen computer equipment", but gets questioned on the matter of both his BBS and telephone fraud. (Source: bust2.txt and lsd-vlle.txt)
1995-07-25 Dan, sysop of The Oasis BBS, is busted for alleged calling card abuse between 1992 and 1994. (Source: oasisbst.txt and oasis2.txt)
1995-08-02 An Amiga scener called Ajax is busted. (Source: a_bust.txt and fattwat.txt)
1995-08-05 Manic/Data Division, sysop of the same-named BBS, is busted at a car boot sale for selling pirated software. In the following house search, his complete hardware is confiscated. (Source: manic_c.txt, manic1.txt, m-busted.txt)
1995-08-17 $pender, sysop of Super Sharp Shock, gets busted by a fraud squad and British Telecom. (Source: spender.txt, spen-bst.txt and spendy.txt)
1995-09-05 Daemon Child (sysop of Acheron BBS) and Mr Dalvin are arrested for calling card abuse, the former's equipment is confiscated. (Source: dalvin.txt and dalvin2.txt)
1995-09-06 Mystical Legends BBS (sysop: Butch) is busted, police comes to his house, arrests him and takes parts of his hardware. After having been questioned and released in the evening, he finds out that a second police team had confiscated the rest of his hardware in the meantime (Source: ml-bust.txt). On 30 January 1996, Butch gets his hardware back. (Source: butch.txt)
1995-10-00 Lincoln/Hoodlum is arrested for matters unrelated to the scene, but the police confiscates his Amiga 4000 with all its data, making fellow sceners worried that it might be used for further busts. (Source: lincoln.txt and personal information from Lincoln)
1995-10-00 QBA/Nah-Kolor is busted by Polish Telecom for phreaking-related matters, "and now he has to pay a very big payment". (Source: qba-bust.txt)
1995-10-10 Buzz/Data Division is busted by the fraud squad and British Telecom for phone fraud. He is caught due to his use of a compromised PBX. He is held in a cell for two hours and remanded on bail until 12 December. (Source: anothe.txt)
1995-10-12 Cougar, sysop of Switchboard, is busted. (Source: sb_bust.txt)
1995-10-25 Iggy and Jam of Hellfire are busted for phreaking. (Source: hf-bust.txt and iggybst.txt)
1995-10-26 Braindead/FLT is busted for phone fraud due to a compromised PBX, and confronted by the state persecutor office with the perspective of 2 years imprisonment and a fine up to 80.000 DM. He is held in pre-trial custody in Düsseldorf. It is unknown how this case ended. One of the related textfiles imply that Switchboard BBS (see above) had been busted because it had been called too often through the compromised PBX. (Source: pbxbust.txt and 816734.txt)
1995-11-01 House search at Enzo, sysop of Sky Tower BBS. The police confiscates all his equipment. "It has not been clarified exactly what the charges will be, but it's likely they know about the sale of DAT-tapes." (Source: skybust!.txt)
1995-11-20 Dutch pirate CD sellers Bishop, Da Vision, and Klipsch are arrested. One of them told to the author of a textfile that while being interrogated, he was being asked about several Dutch scene members and sysops "in both elite- and demo-scene", such as Taz Devil, The Brain, Widget, Powerbyte, Sectorcharger, and Mailman. (Source: ecd-bust.zip)
1995-12-15 A number of people are arrested all over Italy for phreaking and calling card abuse. At least 45 homes are raided. It is unclear whether the persons in question are connected to the scene, but news of the busts are circulated on scene BBSs. (Source: gsmitmst.txt)

1996

1996-01-05 A commercial PSX CD pirate, a friend of Johnny5/Hologram, is busted by the police. (Source: loader.txt)
1996-01-26 Grave Digger/TRSI is busted and arrested. According to a textfile statement by TRSI, his father, a district judge, manages to get him freed and tells him internal information that the bust had been facilitated by Günter von Gravenreuth with the help of Amicom, the former sysop of Skara Brae (see entry from 1994-08-23), who had been busted himself and allegedly made a deal with Gravenreuth to help him bust other people. (Source: trsi-bus.txt)
1996-01-28 A scener called mANGA!/mOBY is busted. (Source: manga!.txt)
1996-01-31 House of House BBS in Essen (sysop: Aliex) is busted. (Source: hoh_bust.txt)
1996-02-00 Attempted house search at Rainman/Crack Inc., sysop of Desert Strike BBS. (Source: crc-bust.txt)
1996-02-00 The trial against Stratego, former sysop of Hardcore Heaven, is ongoing, as reported by one of the witnesses who is a scener. As far as the textfile can be understood, the charges against him are connected to pornography on the BBS. (Source: x-hcbust.txt)
1996-02-00 Mr.Wax/Chromance is busted by the police for using a fake telephone card. (Source: The Pulse #22)
1996-02-01 Demolition Micro BBS (sysop: Micro) in Hattingen is busted. (Source: mic_bust.txt)
1996-02-01 House search at Jack Danielz, sysop of State of Aversia BBS. The police confiscates his equipment on the accusation of abusing calling cards and selling pirate software. (Source: soa-bust.nfo)
1996-02-06 Evolution BBS is busted. A BBS capture from 22 June 1995 is used as evidence for the search warrant. The hardware gets confiscated. (Source: evo.txt)
1996-02-19 Deep Domain BBS is busted. (Source: bust2.txt)
1996-02-20 Pro Amiga 2000 BBS is busted. According to the sysop, "the bbs was infilitrated by a pretend leech a/c user who paid for an a/c and proceeded to d/l files". (Source: probust!.txt)
1996-03-00 Bizarre/Onslaught is busted for PBX abuse and is "facing fees of some 2O.OOO dollars". (Source: Propaganda #21)
1996-03-00 In a bust wave that takes place from late 1995 to early 1996, a number of scene members in France and Luxembourg are busted for calling card abuse, blueboxing, console piracy etc., including Bathory, Tronics, Apollon, Kronos, and Steph. (Source: bust-ft.txt) and bustft.txt)
1996-03-21 An Amiga scener called Krew-L-T is busted for phreaking. (Source: krewbust.txt)
1996-04-00 Macronit/Dominators is busted for credit card fraud and illegal software sales. (Source: Domination #8)
1996-04-02 Need For Speed BBS (sysop: Crackin' Ltd.) is busted. (Source: nfs-bust.txt)
1996-04-03 Soap City BBS is busted. (Source: soapbust.txt)
1996-04-11 12 persons are arrested in several cities in the Netherlands as members of a commercial piracy organisations selling illegal CD-ROMs, as reported by "Telegraaf". (Source: bigbust.txt)
1996-04-11 Doom of Extasy BBS (sysop: Mercury) is busted, BBS hardware gets confiscated. (Source: doombust.txt)
1996-04-13 Six persons are arrested in the German city of Bamberg for calling card abuse and blueboxing, as reported by the local newspaper "Bamberger Zeitung". One of the persons is allegedly a scene member called Elvin Knox (maybe i.e. Elvin Nox). (Source: bamberg.txt)
1996-05-00 Cosmo BC 5000 BBS is busted. (Source: bs!-cosm.txt)
1996-05-22 The demoscene board Genesis is busted by the police on the request of Novell. (Sources: sudonull.com and Scenial #4)
1996-06-00 French busts, to elaborate (Source: fbustnfo.txt nytimes.txt))
1996-06-01 Chotaire/AFL is busted for calling card fraud. (Source: Domination #7)
1996-06-10 Digiman is busted for phreaking. (Source: digiman.txt)
1996-06-11 Chriz/Element gets caught by the post for stamp cheating. (Source: cr!zbust.txt)
1996-07-11 Agent X is busted by police and British Telecom for phreaking. (Source: sembust.txt)
1996-08-00 L.A.Style/Motiv8 is busted for "selling PC games on CD-Rom" and takes his board, The Hidden, offline. (Source: Infared2)
1996-08-15 Sammy Sam, a commercial pirate from Hong Kong, is arrested by the local police. Apparently he was an important connection for some console groups, as news about his arrest are circulated on the boards with the remark "My advice to anyone dealing with HK dealers. Do not use a guy who is STUPID enough to put up a web site to advertise his stuff". (Source: busted!.lzh)
1996-09-00 Deathknight/Psychocrew^Absurd Minds is busted for phreaking. (Source: cis.txt)
1996-09-16 Attempted bust of Saxon/Outlaws. (Source: otl-cops.txt)
1996-09-25 Terror BBS (sysop: Satan) is busted. (Source: newbust.nfo) However, another textfile claims this to be false news and that Satan had just put his BBS offline for precaution. (Source: newbust2.nfo)
1996-10-07 Riverside BBS is busted for the second time. According to a textfile, two days earlier several persons connected to the BBS had received mysterious phonecalls from someone trying to buy pirated software. The textfile author suspects Darklord to be behind the bust. (Source: dct-bust.nfo)
1996-10-09 Traders World BBS (sysop Capslockman) and Stargate (sysop: Chuck) are busted. (Source: bust-tw.txt). A further textfile states that Stargate was not busted after all, but just went offline for precaution. (Source: bust-not.txt). Another textfile states that Traders World was not busted as a BBS, but the police confiscated the hardware on the suspicion of the sysop dealing with stolen goods. (Source: dct-read.nfo)
1996-10-14 Paradise Lost BBS (sysop: Picard) gets busted. In March 1997, Picard is able to see the files against him through his lawyer. According to the BBS capture that figures as evidence, the bust was prepared by Darklord. On 18 July 1997, the case gets dropped, and Picard is able to get his Amiga back. (Source: pi-plost.txt and tbf-plbu.txt)
1996-11-27 Gaz P is busted for phreaking, all his hardware gets confiscated. (Source: gazpbust.txt)
1996-12-00 An Amiga scener called Invisible Man is busted over a somewhat shady affair involving commercial piracy. (Source: imnew.txt and imtape.txt)
1996-12-13 The German BBSs Funhouse, Morbid Vision and Forbidden Forest are busted. A textfile author assumes, based on a BBS capture that was shown to one of the sysops as evidence, that these busts result from an earlier bust of a BBS user called Beatmaster V, who had been busted for phreaking and calling card abuse and presumably had decided to collaborate with the police. (Source: newbust2.txt)
1996-12-16 The Welder is visited by the police. "He was given a choice of either giving them the fone logs or being busted outright. [...] He has been threatened with FAST involvement, and they have also asked to see his contract with EA. Without a doubt this is something to do with Trading standards shite, we still don't know how they targetted him." (Source: wld-bust.txt)

1997

1997-00-00 The demoscene BBS Pointbreak is busted by the police on the request of Novell. (Source: Scenial 4
1997-01-00 Several Amiga BBSs are busted by the FBI: Extreme Velocity, Dawn of Eternety, Malevolence, Street Spydrs, Tower of Sorcery, USS Enterprise, Zions Hideout. (Source: fbi2.txt). Another textfile lists Malevolence, Purgatory, Zions Hideout and Tower of Sorcery as the busted boards, explicitly stating that Street Spydrs BBS has not been busted. (Source: busts.txt)
1997-01-17 Closed Society BBS, operated by Roy/SAC, is busted. A comeback as a legal-only BBS is announced. (Source: SAC 03/97 Artpack infofile)
1997-01-17 X-Man, former sysop of Nordic Thunder (formerly Zone One), receives a letter from his lawyer, apparently related to a previous bust, which allegedly contains proof (a capture) that Darklord had been on his BBS as a mole. (Source: dct-mhhh.nfo)
1997-03-10 Orson is busted by police and British Telecom for calling card fraud and phreaking. (Source: orsonbst.txt)
1997-03-17 Two people in the Ruhr area - the former sysop of the West-Box in Moers and the sysop of Wallstreet BBS in Kamp-Lintfort - are busted. It is assumed that Darklord is responsible. (Source: telekomp.txt)
1997-05-06 Clairvoyant/Hellfire is busted for internet account abuse. (Source: hf-bust1.txt)
1997-08-28 Dansken/Access and Boggan are busted by the police for making home-distilled booze and internet account fraud. (Source: dsk-bust.txt)
1997-09-00 TCB, sysop of Metal Impact BBS, is busted for credit card fraud in relation to obtaining calling cards. The charges were related to things that happened in the years before 1997. (Source: information from TCB).
1997-11-20 Gamma, former sysop of Above Board BBS, gets busted by British Telecom for blueboxing. (Source: gam-bust.txt)
1997-12-02 Coke/Hellfire is busted by Telia for abusing their internet accounts, the case is being handed over to the police. (Source: cke-teli.txt)
1997-12-05 Freaky B and Smiley Eyes, sysops of Bogwort BBS, are busted for selling pirate CDs. (Source: bog.txt and fky-bust.txt)

1998

1998-01-00 Lawnmover Man/Hitmen is busted, his whole equipment is confiscated. (Source: Relax #23)
1998-04-00 AMJ/Shape is busted "for running an illegal warez site at his school". (Source: Relax #24)
1998-04-27 Initially the news spread that five or six Amiga BBSs are busted in Berlin. (Source: bbust.txt) Follow-up textfiles amend the information: It turns out that six people (Stingray, Lector, Radiosity, Crayor, STC and Snow) had been busted for phreaking. Lector's BBS, Broadway, was found by the police as a coincidence. (Source: pbxbusts.txt and sh!-rebu.txt)
1998-09-02 Carabus, sysop of the WHQ of the PC warez group Activation, is arrested by the FBI as the suspect for operating, unknown to the other Activation members, a child pornography ring. The group declares its dissolution two days later. (Source: atn_explaination.txt). Carabus commits suicide on September 9. (Source: ZDNet)

1999

1999-06-00 Bust wave against the PC warez scene in the USA and Canada, including arrests of several members of Class, Razor 1911, and Paradigm. According to a textfile author, the busts resulted from a bust of an original supplier who had been selling cracked ISOs to commercial pirates in Eastern Europe, and who handed over his scene contacts to the police. (Source: meshnews.txt)
1999-06-00 Bust wave in the French PC warez scene, several members of the group Darkstar are arrested. (Source: meshnews.txt, date is an estimate)
1999-06-00 A German PC warez scener called Not4you! is busted. (Source: meshnews.txt, date is an estimate)

Pirates With Attitudes raid - january 2000

2000-05-04 U.S. INDICTS 17 IN ALLEGED INTERNATIONAL SOFTWARE PIRACY CONSPIRACY from justice.gov
2002-05-15 Leader Of Software Piracy Sentenced To 18 Months In Prison - from justice.gov - sentencing of Marlenus
2002-05-15 SOFTWARE PIRATE GUILTY OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT UNDER NET ACT from justice.gov - sentencing of Mercy

Operation Buccaneer / Operation Bandwidth / Operation Digital Piratez - december 2001

From scenegrouplist.com; "On December 11, 2001, in an international operation known as "Operation Buccaneer", law enforcement agents in six countries targeted 62 people suspected of software piracy, with leads in twenty other countries. Raids were conducted in the US, Britain, Australia, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Five people were arrested in England; in the United States, no arrests were made on the day of the raids, pending review of materials seized. Busted were the site DoD and a lot of it's members and people from the releasegroup Razor1911 and RogueWarriorz."

Other articles on justice.gov mentioned the operation additionally impacting RiSC, RiSCISO, Request To Send (RTS), ShadowRealm (SRM), WomenLoveWarez (WLW), and Parentz On Puterz (POPZ).

2001-12-11 FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT TARGETS INTERNATIONAL INTERNET PIRACY SYNDICATES from justice.gov
2002-05-17 Warez Leader Sentenced to 46 Months from justice.gov discussing sentencing of eriFlleH, radsl, chevelle, flood, avec, Buj, Erupt, azide and blueadept.
2002-06-11 Federal Indictments Returned In Las Vegas Against Software Pirates Nabbed In Operation Bandwidth from justice.gov
2003-06-06 Former Leader of Razor 1911, the Oldest Game Software Piracy Ring on the Internet, Sentenced from justice.gov - discussing sentencing of Pitbull/Razor 1911.
2003-12-06 Twelve "Operation Bandwidth" Software Pirates Enter into Group Guilty Plea from justice.gov, detailing the bust against Rogue Warriorz (RWZ).
2004-10-02 Leader of Oldest Game Piracy Group Get 50-Month Prison Sentence from justice.gov - discussing sentencing of Sean Michael Breen, leader of Razor 1911.

2003-11-01 Publicized Convictions Under the No Electronic Theft Act from informit.com

Operation Higher Education / Operation Fastlink - april 2004

From scenegrouplist.com; "In april, 2004, raids occurred in similar fashion to those from Operation Buccaneer. The operation led to the successful busts of nearly 100 individuals involved in piracy worldwide. There were around 120 total searches executed in 27 states and in 10 foreign countries. Foreign searches were conducted in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, the Netherlands, Singapore, Sweden as well as Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This was the biggest operation against piracy ever. Among the prolific warez release groups targeted by Fastlink were Fairlight, Kalisto, Echelon, Class, DEViANCE (All games) and Apocalypse Production Crew and Chromance."

Legal documents from a later case listed the following sites as afftected; "APV DC FBI FS PI TLZ TB AF1 PI".

2004-04-22 ‘Operation Fastlink’ Is The Largest Global Enforcement Action Ever Undertaken Against Online Piracy from justice.gov
2006-09-07 'Operation Fastlink' Defendant Sentenced for Online Software Piracy from justice.gov
2009-03-06 60TH FELONY CONVICTION OBTAINED IN SOFTWARE PIRACY CRACKDOWN “OPERATION FASTLINK” from justice.gov - mentioning sentencing of dmx/Kalisto.
2009-08-18 Illinois Resident Who Participated in Online Software Piracy Ring Is Sentenced from fbi.gov - mentioning sentencing of dmx/Kalisto.
(no date) Major Criminal IP Operations - Operation Fastlink - 'Operation Fastlink' Defendant Sentenced from ipmall.info

Operation Site Down / Operation Copycat - june 2005

From Wikipedia as it stood on 2020-06-05; "Operation Site Down is the umbrella name for a law enforcement initiative conducted by the FBI and law enforcement agents from ten other countries which resulted in a raid on targets on June 29, 2005. Three separate undercover investigations were involved, based in Chicago, Charlotte and San Jose. The raid consisted of approximately 70 searches in the United States and approximately 20 others in ten other countries in an effort to disrupt and dismantle many of the leading Warez groups which distribute and trade in copyrighted software, movies, music and games on the Internet." The press release said; "In the past 24 hours, more than 70 searches were executed in the United States, and more than 20 overseas. Four individuals were arrested in the United States, and searches and/or arrests occurred in the following 10 countries: Canada, Israel, France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany, Portugal and Australia. At least eight major online distribution sites were dismantled, preventing tens of millions of further losses to the content industry. More than 120 leading members of the organized online piracy underground were identified by the investigation to date, and as the investigations continue, additional targets will be identified and pursued. ... The release groups targeted by Site Down specialize in the distribution of all types of pirated works including utility and application software, movies, music, and games. Among the warez groups hit yesterday are: RiSCISO, Myth, TDA, LND, Goodfellaz, Hoodlum, Vengeance, Centropy, Wasted Time, Paranoid, Corrupt, Gamerz, AdmitONE, Hellbound, KGS, BBX, KHG, NOX, NFR, CDZ, TUN, and BHP." Affected topsites were LAD, CHUD, SC, VS, TNA, and BB from the US, RSN and TWH from The Netherlands and LW from Lithuania.

Operation Site Down on Wikipedia

2005-06-30 JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES INTERNATIONAL INTERNET PIRACY SWEEP from justice.gov.
2005-06-30 'Operation Site Down' Attacks Organized Piracy Networks in 10 Countries from cybercrime.gov (via web.archive.org)
2005-06-30 Alleged Net pirates raided across globe from msnbc.msn.com via web.archive.org
2005-07-01 https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/FBI-nets-Indian-internet-pirate/articleshow/1157973.cms from indiatimes.com, relating to nebula aka dact
2005-07-14 First "Operation Site Down" Indictment Charges Four Defendants with Copyright Violations Following Undercover "Warez" Investigation from justice.gov
2005-07-15 Fremont man charged in piracy case from eastbaytimes.com relating to nebula aka dact
2005-07-28 JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES EIGHT CHARGED IN INTERNET PIRACY CRACKDOWN from justice.gov
2006-01-09 10 CONVICTIONS TO DATE FOR INTERNET-BASED PIRACY OF MOVIES, SOFTWARE AND GAMES IN OPERATION COPYCAT from justice.gov (via web.archive.org)
2006-01-26 TEN ADDITIONAL DEFENDANTS CHARGED WITH VIOLATING COPYRIGHT LAWS AS PART OF OPERATION COPYCAT from justice.gov (via web.archive.org)
2006-04-06 Five Additional Defendants Charged with Violating Copyright Laws as Part of Operation Copycat from cybercrimes.gov (via web.archive.org)

European Raids - early 2007

From scenegrouplist.com; "On 25 january 2006, local police in a wide spread coordinated effort raided over 300 homes and offices associated with top warez providers. The raids took place in Germany, Austria, Holland, Poland and the Czech Republic. A total number of 30 individuals were arrested in the raids. Probably the GVU got in one of the sites by paying for at least for one of the servers hardware. It looks like the site IOH (Island Of Hope) was more or less a GUV honeypot, attracting the spread members of the release groups. The raids also yielded over 20 servers, all serving as FTP sites. The following top providers, mostly German groups, were eliminated; RELOADED, KNiGHTS, TFCiSO, Cinemaniacs, German-Friend, ParadieseBeach, Klapsmuehle, Unreality, DRAGON, Laboratory, Heaven, Code Talk, GTR, ECP, TRCD, AOS, MRM, SITH, GWL, Cine VCD, and AHE. kHz quit the scene after the news. In addition, the leader of RELOADED was reported as arrested during the raids. Click here for more info about the bust."