Security News > 2020 > June > 20 months behind bars for IT support worker who nicked £30k worth of crypto-cash
Mark Andrews of St Helens, northwest England, was sentenced to prison by Liverpool Crown Court after pleading guilty to one charge of theft and one charge under the Computer Misuse Act.
By day 38-year-old Andrews was a self-employed IT support specialist, and a business enquiry in April 2019 led to him spotting a folder on a new customer's network containing Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum.
Local newspaper the St Helens Star reported from Andrews' sentencing hearing that the associated cryptocurrencies were worth £31,244.
Crown prosecutor Jonathan Duffy told Liverpool Crown Court: "The victim employed Mark Andrews to sort out his business's IT software and paid him £1,320 for the job. Andrews had access to the business's system and all aspects of the network. But he secured unauthorised access to the victim's private folder and stole all of the cryptocurrency."
The victim spotted what happened about a fortnight later, traced the cryptocurrency's movements and called Cheshire Police, who seized Andrews' laptop and found that the digital dosh had passed through his fingers, allowing him to clear £14,000 of his own debts.