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Titan have arrested 16 year
old in hacking and blackmail investigation
A 16 year old male, from Liverpool, has been arrested, on
30 June 2016, on suspicion of computer hacking, blackmail and fraud. Detectives
from Titan, along with Officers from Merseyside Police, executed the Computer
Misuse Act warrant at the house in Croxteth, at around 7.30am. We are told that
the teenager was arrested inside the house, where he lives with his family.
Detectives from Titan's Cyber Crime Unit are currently investigating allegations
that someone hacked into another person's Instagram account, gained control of
it and tried to blackmail them in order to get their account back. Cyber Crime
Investigators are also looking at allegations that an online shopping account
was accessed by another person and a delivery of electronic goods were
re-directed to another address, effectively stealing them. Computer equipment
and other electronic devices have been seized at the house in Croxteth and will
be analysed by specialist Officers from Titan, which is the North West's
Regional Organised Crime Unit.
Detective Chief Superintendent Chris Green, the head of Titan, said:-
"This investigation shows the importance of people making sure they take the
right precautions to protect themselves while using the Internet. People
sometimes don't use strong passwords or don't change them as regularly as they
should which makes it easier for cyber criminals to gain access to accounts.
It's also important to make sure that phones, tablets and computers are all
using the most up-to-date operating software and the latest anti virus software.
These are simple things that we can all do to make it more difficult for cyber
criminals to hack into our social media and banking accounts to commit crime.
Our on going enquiry centres on the alleged blackmailing of someone in another
part of the country whose Instagram account, with many thousands of followers,
was hacked and taken control of by someone else. The victim then received
messages from the offender asking for a ransom to be paid in return for access
to their Instagram account being given back. Another allegation which is
possibly related is the hacking of someone's online shopping account whereby
goods were re-directed to another person's address. Cyber Crime is increasingly
common with criminals turning to the Internet to commit the same kinds of
offences as traditionally would be committed in the real world such as theft,
blackmail and fraud. As we now all spend more and more of our daily lives
online, we need to take the same precautions and care about our personal details
as we would on the street. If we all changed our passwords more regularly, made
them more intricate and harder to crack, and updated our phone, tablet and
computer security whenever we get prompted to then we would make it far harder
for cyber criminals to target us. At Titan we have the capabilities and
expertise to investigate this kind of crime in conjunction with other law
enforcement agencies and my message to cyber criminals is that you may think you
can hide on the Internet and remain anonymous, but the reality is that you
can't."
The 16 year old remains in Police Custody at this time. If you have been the
victim of online fraud then report it to Action
Fraud
or:- 0300 123 2040 or to your local Police Force on:- 101. |
