Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
A 22-YEAR-OLD hacker has been sentenced to over four years in prison for Bitcoin blackmailing crimes and for the possession of indecent images of children.
Lewys Martin plead guilty on five different counts at Southwark Crown Court in Kent and was sentenced to a total of 50 months in jail after the judge ruled some of the convictions were to be served consecutively.
Martin had used a phishing program to obtain customer banking details and 740,000 email addresses before threatening to release them if he was not paid £207,000 in the online currency Bitcoin .
Phising involves contacting users requesting information from them using fraudulent methods, often by purporting to be from a financial institution.
The blackmail threats were made to the Lloyds Banking Group and to the Sun newspaper who reported them to the Metropolitan Police’s Cyber Crime Unit.
Although Martin had illegally obtained the customer data he was unable to access the bank’s computer system.
Anonymisation software had been used to hide the blackmailer’s identity and a sample of the phished bank accounts was enclosed to demonstrate he was a genuine blackmailer.
A complex police investigation was then launched which led detectives to Martin who was then arrested.
Police forensic experts examined a seized computer and phone and identified evidence linking Martin to the blackmail. Compromised personal banking information that could be used in a fraud was also found along with three malware-based phishing programs designed to steal personal details and data.
A number of indecent images of children described as being of the most serious nature were also discovered.
Martin pled guilty to the charges and was sentenced accordingly:
Chief inspector Jason Tunn of the Metropolitan Police cyber crime said that the sentence “sends out a strong message that this type of crime is taken seriously”.
Tunn also noted that Martin was unable to defeat the bank’s security systems and used phishing techniques instead, a reminder he said to consumers of being safe online.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Interesting that child porn charges come along when he starts messing with the banks.
Absolutely. Seems a bit fishy…
Nah they seized his computer and checked it, that’s all
That’s grand then dave, we won’t pursue that thought any further so !
Why not 3 consecutive sentences? He committed 3 crimes but he’s still only going to serve 27 months unless he behaves himself in which case he’ll be home by next Christmas
My mistake 50 months. My question really is how can someone serve two sentences at once? Will he get double jail for the first 23 months?
I’ve always wondered that! Can’t make sense of concurrent sentences. I’d imagine it’s much like just serving the one
The judge basically considers the two charges to be a single crime.
Pubs should allow you to buy drinks concurrently – 10 for the price of 1 please :) That’s how ridiculous it is!
*child abuse imagery =P
Always so sad to see such rare and sought after talents like computer coding going to waste on a person who uses them criminally! Horrendous crime! Hope he comes out of prison a new man
Scriptkiddie is what they are called. Not real hackers. A baby could do what he did. Hence the term … scriptkiddie.
Do you believe in the tooth fairy. Newman me arse
A person can be sentenced to serve prison sentences consecutively or concurrently depending on the severity of the crimes… It’s a carrot often dangled in front of people to get them to confess. Particularly if there’s substantial evidence on lower charges but they run the risk of acquittal on main charge.
He asked for too much money. That was his problem. If he had asked for €5,000 instead of €200,000 they might have paid up without getting the police involved. He got greedy.
have your say