Grant West, a cunning hacker who goes by the online handle of “Courvoisier” on the Dark Web has been arrested by British police. The 26-year-old hacker is known for hacking over 200 companies around the world including Apple, Asda, Uber, and Just Eat, Groupon, and Nectar etc.
West not only breached the security of these companies but also stole their user data before selling them on the now seized AlphaBay market on the Dark Web. In Just Eat’s case, West used his girlfriends’ laptop to carry out a phishing scam by sending malicious emails tricking its users into falling for a fake survey.
In that scam, he stole login credentials of over 165,000 Just Eat customers which he later sold on Dark Web marketplaces.
Furthermore, the money he made through hacking hundreds of companies was used to live a lavish life including buying luxury cars, traveling to the united states with stolen air miles and spending millions of dollars from stolen credit cards on gambling etc.
West’s and his girlfriend’s arrest
West’s arrest was nothing far from a James Bond movie. He was arrested In September 2017 while traveling on a first class train ticket from Wales to London. His arrest was a result of an undercover operation conducted by the Metropolitan Police’s cybercrime unit who caught West redhanded while logging in to a Dark Web marketplace from his laptop in the train.
The cybercrime unit also raided his caravan which he used for living in Isle of Sheppey in Kent. The police found an SD card which contained credit and debit card details of over 63,000 users and more than 75 million login credentials including usernames, emails, and passwords he stole during the hacking spree.
The unit also seized an account containing $676,773 (£500,000 – €565,034) worth of Bitcoin and $33,838 (£25,000 – €28,251) in cash from the same caravan. Further digging revealed that West also sold drugs on the Dark Web and also taught others how to carry out cyber attacks against unsuspected users – The shocking aspect of the story is that West conducted over 47,000 sales on Dark web.
On the other hand, his girlfriend, 26-year-old Rachael Brookes was also arrested after police traced the IP address used in the Just Eat scam that led authorities to Brookes’s home. Although Brookes pleaded guilty, she was spared jail by the Judge at London’s Southwark crown court this week.
According to The Sun, West’s sentencing will take place on May 25th, 2018. He has already admitted two counts of conspiracy to defraud, unauthorized modification of a computer, separate offenses of offering, attempting and possession with intent to supply cannabis, criminal property, and money laundering.
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