He Asked ChatGPT How to Rob a Bank, but His Phone History Sent Him to Prison

Technology was used by a 23-year-old man in Nebraska, USA, to ask how to rob a bank, but in the end, the data stored on his phone became the key evidence against him.

Deron Lewis-Payne was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison by a court in Omaha after being found guilty of robbing a bank in February.

The incident occurred after the young man entered the financial institution armed with a semi-automatic pistol. He threatened the teller and took slightly more than $9,000 before fleeing. He later spent a considerable portion of the money buying clothes and shoes at a shopping center near the bank.

His identification was also made possible by security camera footage. Lewis-Payne admitted that he had driven the car shown in the camera recordings, but denied having any connection to the robbery.

After obtaining permission to search the phone, investigators discovered material directly linking him to the crime. The browsing history contained searches conducted on ChatGPT, through which the 23-year-old had sought information about how a bank robbery could be carried out.

Another clue was found on Google Maps. A search for directions to “I3 Bank,” the bank that was attacked, had been recorded there.

The data discovered on the phone, combined with the other evidence gathered during the investigation, undermined Lewis-Payne’s testimony and led to his sentence of more than a decade in prison.

In this way, the technological tool he used to find out how to commit the crime became one of the pieces of evidence that sent him behind bars.