A look back at the month's biggest technology stories involving alleged and actual crimes, and crime-related issues:

FBI warns on latest in phone phreaking: swatting

The FBI issued a warning this month that the practice of swatting – that is making phony 911 calls about hostage or other sensitive situations designed to elicit responses from SWAT teams – is on the rise. The FBI says that perpetrators typically “swat” as an ego boost and do it because they can, but that the situation can endanger the lives of emergency response personnel and victims of the scams.

The FBI says it is working with telecom companies to try to sniff out swatting calls better.

Microsoft puts out bounty for Conficker creators

Microsoft is trying to put some pressure on the criminals responsible for the worst Internet worm outbreak in years, offering a $250,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Conficker's creators. The software vendor said it was also working with security researchers, domain name registrars and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to try to take down the servers that have been launching the Conficker attacks.

Meanwhile, the criminals behind Conficker have released a new version of the malware – B++ -- that could signal a major shift in the way the worm operates. It uses new techniques to download software, giving its creators more flexibility in what they can do with infected machines. 

2008's biggest tech crime stories

FTC says identity theft rules among consumer complaints

For the ninth year in a row identity theft - particularly in Arizona and California -- was the number one consumer complaint filed with the Federal Trade Commission in 2008. The FTC reported this month that of 1,223,370 complaints received in 2008, 313,982 - or 26%- were related to identity theft. 

Crooks embrace Skype

The Italian police force is the latest law enforcement outfit to complain that Skype's VoIP service is being used by crooks to circumvent wiretaps, according to the BBC. According to one source, a drug trafficker was heard to recommend Skype as a way to elude authorities. Skype uses a strong encryption scheme that the company considers to be a trade secret.

MySpace boots 90K sex offenders

The social networking site reported in February that it had rid itself of 90,000 identified sex offenders and sexual predators (not that these people have necessarily committed crimes through the sites). MySpace and Facebook have agreed to adhere to strict laws designed to protect children and other users of their sites. 

Fugitive hacker nailed for VoIP scam

Computerworld reported earlier this month that a recently nabbed fugitive was indicted by a federal grand jury for breaking into VoIP service providers' computer networks: “Edwin Pena had been arrested in June 2006 on computer and wire fraud charges. The U.S. government charged that Pena and a cohort hacked into the computer networks from November 2004 to May 2006. Pena then resold the VoIP services to his own customers.”

Software pirate gets prison time, loses Ferrari

A 24-year-old Texas man has been sentenced to 41 months in prison for selling counterfeit software on about 40 Web sites, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Timothy Kyle Dunaway of Wichita Falls, Texas, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas for selling counterfeit software with a retail value of more than $1 million, the DOJ said. Judge Reed O'Connor also sentenced Dunaway to pay more than $810,000 in restitution and turn over a Ferrari 348 TB and a Rolex watch he purchased with money from counterfeit software sales.

Alleged LCD price fixers indicted

Three more executives were indicted for their alleged roles in an LCD price-fixing scheme, the U.S. Department of Justice said. The indictment follows recent guilty pleas from four other executives involved in the same conspiracy who agreed to pay tens of thousands of dollars and serve jail time. The new charges allege that Cheng Yuan Lin, Chunghwa's former chairman and CEO; Wen Jun Cheng, who was assistant vice president of sales and marketing for Chunghwa; and Duk Mo Koo, formerly executive vice president and chief sales officer for LG, tried to harm competition by fixing the price of TFT-LCDs. The panels are used in computer monitors, laptops, TVs and mobile phones. 

Verizon marketing tactics ruled illegal

An appeals court judge agreed with an earlier Federal Communications Commission ruling that found Verizon used illegal tactics in trying to retain phone customers who decide to switch to another service provider. Bright House Networks, Comcast and Time Warner filed the initial complaint against Verizon, arguing that the operator runs afoul of the Telecommunications Act when it contacts customers to offer them incentives to stay rather than switch operators.