Man certifies his own (fake) death after hacking into registry system using stolen identity

A 39-year-old man has been sentenced to 81 months in jail after hacking governments systems to fake his own death to dodge paying child support.

Yes, you read that right. The press release by the US Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Kentucky, paints a detailed picture of what went down.

In January of 2023, Jesse Kipf used several stolen identities to create a case for his own death, one of which was a doctor living in another state. He used the stolen username and password of this doctor to log in to the Hawaii Death Registry System and certify his own death, using the digital signature of the doctor.

Kipf admitted that one of the reasons he did this was to avoid having to pay child support. Reportedly, Kipf got a divorce in 2008 in California and owed more than $116,000 in child support obligations to his daughter and her mother, according to court documents.

This was not the only time that Kipf infiltrated other states’ death registry systems, private business networks, and governmental and corporate networks. Each time by using stolen credentials.

The access he gained to the systems and networks was subsequently sold on dark web forums.

The case was investigated by the FBI in Louisville. FBI Special Agent Michael E. Stansbury said:

“Working in collaboration with our law enforcement partners, this defendant who hacked a variety of computer systems and maliciously stole the identity of others for his own personal gain, will now pay the price.”

In an arrangement with prosecutors, Mr. Kipf pleaded guilty in April to one count of computer fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. Under the deal, other charges against him were dropped.

Under federal law, Kipf must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence.  Upon his release from prison, he will be under the supervision of the US Probation Office for three years.  The damage to governmental and corporate computer systems and his failure to pay his child support obligations amounted to a total of $195,758,65.

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