A SICK internet paedophile who hacked a schoolgirl’s webcam to spy on her as she showered has been put behind bars for more than two years.
Robert Davies, 32, used fake online profiles to trick victims and infected their devices with malware to perv on them.
Officers identified more than 30 victims in total[/caption]
Davies is believed to have carried out the sick spying for a number of years[/caption]
The software engineer from Nottingham kept a secret stash of indecent images, which included children and adults.
One girl was blissfully unaware the predator was switching on her webcam to spy as she showered and undressed.
Officers unearthed this and a further 27 indecent images and videos of children on his computer.
He also catfished victims pretending to be someone else for years, using messaging apps to build a relationship with them.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) became aware of depraved Davies in 2019, after he bought dodgy cyber crime kit and used an online market place called weleakinfo which sells stolen credentials.
Officers identified and visited more than 30 shocked victims during the investigation, some of which he knew personally.
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“Davies had amassed what can only be described as a cyber criminal’s toolkit,” said Andrew Shorrock, operations manager from the NCA’s National Cyber Crime Unit.
“Not only was he using these tools to break in to peoples’ devices, he was using them to spy on his unsuspecting victims and to steal naked images of them for his own sexual gratification.
“Even more disturbing is the fact that at least one of his victims was a teenager and we found a collection of images and videos of child sexual abuse on his computer.”
On September 2, Davies pleaded guilty to 24 Computer Misuse Act offences, voyeurism, three counts of possessing indecent images of children, making indecent images of children and possessing extreme pornographic images.
At Nottingham Crown Court, he was sentenced to two years and two months in prison.
According to BBC News, Judge Julie Warburton told the court: “This was a campaign of offending of a serious nature with devastating impact on 25 individuals who you exploited over a period of 10 years.
“The extent of the damage you have caused is immeasurable and constitutes a total violation of their privacy.”
Davies has now been placed on the sex offenders’ register.
He’s also been slapped with a 10 year restraining order for five of the victims and a 10 year sexual harm prevention order.
What can parents do to keep kids safe from online predators?
Davies sent malware to victims in a link that can get past antivirus apps.
Jake Moore, former Head of Digital Forensics at Dorset Police and now an expert for ESET, said: “Sadly what has occurred here is remarkably easy and highlights the emotional and psychological manipulation used to hack a device.
“Even with the right software to mitigate this sort of abuse, victims are often walked through procedures into overriding any programs used to stop this from occurring.
“Therefore, it is vital that parents share best practices with their children and help them spot such manipulative behaviour and how to take the necessary steps into stopping this from occurring.”
Make sure kids don’t fall for creeps who can send dodgy links, experts advise[/caption]
In other news, personalised smart guns, which can be fired only by verified users, may finally become available to U.S. consumers this year.
Tech giant Microsoft is trying to make the world more woke by rolling out an “inclusiveness” checker in its Word software.
And a federal anti-trust case against Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, has been given the go-ahead.
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