Wolverhampton man jailed following major cybercrime investigation
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A man from Wolverhampton has been jailed after accessing people’s private data and using it to make purchases and sign up to gambling sites.
An investigation by officers from the West Midlands Regional Cyber Crime Unit found that between 2018 and 2022, Ludek Fiurasek accessed the leaked personal details of dozens of people across the UK, including their email addresses and passwords.
The 29-year-old would then check whether those matching details were used to access other services, including online shopping sites.
Fiurasek could then make use of the accounts for his own benefit, buying goods worth thousands of pounds in total, including making payments for car parts, a games console and casino websites.
Fiurasek’s devices were seized by officers who found he had in his possession more than 30 lists of combinations of email addresses and passwords.
The investigation also discovered he’d entered illegally obtained details into websites and online accounts more than 800 times.
At Birmingham Crown Court in December, he was convicted of six counts of fraud by false representation, one of possessing an article for use in fraud, and one of unauthorised computer access with intent to commit other offences.
At the same court on Monday 6 October, Fiurasek, of Dunstall Road, Wolverhampton, was sentenced to three years and four months in prison.
We don’t underestimate the impact of fraud and cybercrime on innocent people who use the internet as part of their daily lives, and we would urge you to make sure you’re as protected as possible against criminals.
It’s important to have different passwords for each account online, using a password manager so that you only have to remember one complex password.
To check if any of your accounts have featured in known leaks, visit Have I Been Pwned: Check if your email address has been exposed in a data breach.
We’d also advise you to close any accounts that are no longer in use.
For more helpful information and tips visit https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/section/advice-guidance/you-your-family.