A Norwich computer hacker has been jailed for his part in a cryptocurrency fraud that saw users scammed out of more than $900,000.
Elliott Gunton, 24, of Old Catton, was sentenced at Norwich Crown Court to three-and-a-half years after admitting offences dating back to 2018 and 2019 when he was aged 17 and 18.
He and fellow hackers accessed the Coinbase accounts of more than 500 crypto users by directing online log-ins to a dummy website, the court was told.
They also managed to get private account access details after contacting telecoms companies with “sob stories” in order to divert phone calls.
READ MORE: How teenage hacker made hundreds of thousands from his bedroom
One US account holder lost more than $16,000 before another attempt to steal more than $100 was prevented when the hacking came to light.
Others lost amounts totalling in the hundred of thousands of dollars.
Judge Alice Robinson said: “This was highly sophisticated offending that involved significant planning and technical expertise.”
Gunton, of Mounteney Close, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud outside the UK and money laundering.
It is the latest in a history of offences that saw the unemployed teenager quietly amass a fortune from computer hacking in his bedroom.
He made international headlines aged 16 when he stole the personal data of TalkTalk customers in exchange for hundreds of thousands of pounds in cryptocurrency.
In 2019 he was jailed for 20 months and ordered to pay back £407,359 after hacking high-profile Instagram accounts.
He also fought extradition to the US to face further charges.
Matthew McNiff, mitigating, said at the time he had been an obsessive loner who “shut himself away drowning in computer use”.
He has since sought help to address his behaviour and had started a furniture business, he added.
But jailing him Judge Robinson said though he claimed he got a “thrill from hacking” his ultimate aim had been to steal money.
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