Over $35K crypto theft lands UK man a 20-month jail term

Mark Andrews, the United kingdom resident from Saint Helens, has been awarded over a year and a half jail term for unauthorizedly accessing a computer system to commit an offense, including a crypto theft worth thousands of dollars. Cheshire Constabulary reported the development on Friday.

UK man jailed for $37,870 crypto theft

The 38-year-old Andrews reportedly stole a huge amount of digital currencies worth £30,000 ($37,870) from an unnamed victim in Wilmslow, UK. The victim reached out to Andrews for his IT services in April, last year. Upon completion of the work right at the victim’s office, Andrews managed to find personal information, which eventually led up to the crypto theft.

The unnamed victim could monitor where the cryptocurrencies were moved, according to the report. This facilitated the investigations and evidence, which resulted in the detention of Andrews. He was detained at his residence on the offense of the Computer Misuse Act and charges of crypto theft.

Andrews faces a 20-month jail term

During his arrest, the law enforcement agency was able to confiscate a large portion of digital currencies, including many devices that served as evidence, per the report. After pleading guilty to the charges levied against him, Andrews will be facing 20 months in jail for committing crypto theft. He was also awarded a ten months concurrent imprisonment for accessing a computer system unauthorizedly.

David MacFarlane of the Cyber Crime Team at Cheshire Constabulary noted in the report that the investigation was complex, which also points out the increasing criminal activity in the digital space, like crypto thefts.

MacFarlane hopes that the imprisonment of Andrews would serve as a deterrent to every other person, who plans to steal cryptocurrencies, believing they can possibly get away with it. He added:

I would remind people of the importance of protecting they’re data and keeping it safe from criminals.