Teen Snapchat hacker jailed after threatening to post nudes to make cash

A teenage hacker has been jailed after threatening to post nudes stolen from women’s Snapchat accounts to make money, police have said.

Jasin Bushi, 18, infiltrated the accounts of at least seven women on the instant messaging app and changed their login details so the victims could not regain access.

He then set about posing as the women and messaging their friends to ask for money. Bushi was known to one of his victims, while the remaining six women were total strangers, Scotland Yard said.

Initially, the messages claimed the individual was facing eviction and needed to borrow money to cover rent, usually between £200 to £300, Scotland Yard said.

Some of the victim’s friends were not fooled by these pleas and challenged them, only for Bushi to break cover and instead threaten to post nude pictures of the woman if money was not sent to a PayPal account.

Scotland Yard said intimate pictures and videos of victims from the Snapchat accounts “were posted on a number of occasions”, but a judge was said to have accepted Bushi’s denials that it was not done by him.

The teenager, of Aldenham Street, Camden, carried out the hacking spree between December 2020 and February 2021.

Police said they launched an investigation in May 2021 and seven identified victims, aged between 17 and 35, agreed to provide statements.

However, the force said there were “many more victims who were unwilling to support a police investigation”.

Bushi was eventually linked to the fake PayPal accounts he had set up to receive stolen money through two mobile numbers he had used.

A search of his house led to the discovery of mobile phones containing some of the victims’ compromised personal banking details, email addresses and passwords, along with a note that read: “Hey, I’m struggling with rent. I’m literally £300 short and I’m probably going to get kicked out if I can’t pay. I’ll pay back Monday.”

He pleaded guilty to unauthorised access to a computer to facilitate the commission of an offence, fraud by false representation, possession of articles used in fraud and three counts of blackmail, according to police.

He pleaded not guilty to three counts of disclosing private sexual photographs or films, with intent to cause distress, these charges were left to lie on file.

'I now feel nauseated using the app'

On Monday, Bushi was jailed for two years at Wood Green Crown Court, Scotland Yard said.

One of his victims, whose friends, family and colleagues saw intimate posts that were shared, said in a statement issued through police: “Snapchat was a social media platform where I had years of stored treasured memories of photos and videos of my child, and I now feel nauseated using the app.

“I had a friend who, thinking she was helping me, lost a significant amount of money due to this incident and I feel indebted to her. I was fortunate enough to not be physically injured by this incident, but the long lasting psychological effects impact me every day, and I feel that this is likely to be the case for a long time in the future.”

Another victim said: “I felt embarrassed, I left the office straight away in tears and had a few days off work because I felt I couldn’t face the people who have seen those private images. The feeling still haunts me now of when I first saw those photos on my public story, I would never wish that feeling upon anyone.”

Det Con Ed Sehmer, the investigating officer, said:  “Bushi completely violated the victims’ privacy all in an attempt to make a quick bit of cash. When his deception did not work, he resorted to blackmail. He is extremely cruel, callous and it was absolutely devastating for the victims who had their intimate images publicly posted.”