Pranknet, also known as Prank University, was an anonymous prank calling community active mainly from 2009 to 2011 that carried out a string of malicious pranks and telephone harassment coordinated through an online chat room. Members convinced hotel and fast food employees to cause more than sixty thousand dollars in damage, and the group, founded by a man calling himself Dex1x1 and later identified as a Canadian named Tariq Malik, was linked to nearly sixty separate incidents. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Elements of OffenseTelephone harassment and hoaxing via social engineering, and DDoS attacks 1 Notable ExampleMarkle tricked a desk clerk at the Homewood Suites in Lexington, Kentucky, into drinking another guest's urine as part of a Pranknet hoax 1 Jurisdiction VariationKentucky police classified the Lexington Pranknet incident as first-degree wanton endangerment, a Class D felony under Kentucky law 1 Partially Attested
Typical PenaltyMarkle was subsequently sentenced to a shock incarceration term of six months 1 Wikipedia states Markle was sentenced to six months shock incarceration but does not specify which charge the sentence was for Classification
Offense GradeInfraction or Violation 1 Connections
Has Offense Grade
Entity-backed identity for the offense-grade enum value this offense already carries, resolved to a crime concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The offense-grade fact itself stays on the offense unchanged.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Pranknet
Lead section
Pranknet, also known as Prank University, was an anonymous prank calling virtual community that was involved in a string of malicious pranks and instances of telephone harassment, especially during 2009-2011.
Infobox, activities
Telephone harassment and hoaxing, via social engineering; DDoS attacks
Notable Pranknet incidents section, Markle Homewood Suites paragraph
On July 20, Markle tricked a desk clerk at the Homewood Suites in Lexington, Kentucky, into drinking another person's urine.
Notable Pranknet incidents section, wanton endangerment classification sentence
The police report classifies the Lexington incident as first-degree wanton endangerment, a Class D felony in Kentucky.
Notable Pranknet incidents section, Markle sentencing sentence
Markle was subsequently sentenced to a shock incarceration term of six months.
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