Doxers Posing as Cops Are Tricking Big Tech Firms Into Sharing People’s Private Data

When a privacy Charter Communications’ Legal Response Operations Center specialist received an emergency data request via email on September 4 from Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Officer Jason Corse, taking only a few minutes to respond with the “target’s” name, home address, phone number and email address.

But the email did not actually come from Corse or anyone else at the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. It was sent by a member of a hacking group that offers doxxing-as-a-service to clients willing to pay for highly sensitive personal data held by tech companies in the United States.

“It took all of 20 minutes,” Exempt, a member of the group that pulled off the trick, told WIRED. He claims his group has succeeded in extracting similar information from nearly every major US tech company, including Apple and Amazon, as well as more fringe platforms like video-sharing site Rumble, which is popular among far-right influencers.

Exempt shared with WIRED the information Charter Communications sent to the group, and revealed that the victim was a “gamer” from New York. Asked whether he was concerned about how the information obtained was used against targets, Exempt said: “I generally don’t care.”

The victim did not respond to WIRED’s requests for comment.

“It’s definitely concerning to hear of criminals impersonating officers in this way, especially when they’re claiming to be one of our employees,” says Christian Hancock, media relations manager for the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. Officer Corse declined to comment.

Charter Communications declined to comment.

This method of tricking companies into handing over information that can be used to harass, threaten, and intimidate victims has been known for years. But WIRED has obtained unprecedented insight into how one of these doxxing groups operates, and why, despite years of warnings, it’s still happening so frequently.

The Charter Communications incident was one of 500 successful requests made in recent years. To support his claims, the hacker shared several documents and recordings with WIRED, including what he claimed were screenshots of email requests, fake subpoenas, responses from tech companies, and even a video recording of a phone call with a company’s law enforcement response team that was looking to verify a request. Exempt also shared evidence that a current law enforcement official (Exempt declined to provide the officer’s location or name) was in contact with the group in connection with allegedly working to submit requests from their accounts in exchange for a cut of the profits.