14 DAY TRIAL // Adam Penny, 25, of London, UK, was sentenced to five years and four months in prison by a London court yesterday for hacking a gold bullion trading company in 2015.
According to London police, Penny worked together with three other individuals, Joshua Wilkins, 25, Nour Mansouri, 24, and Daniel William Rabbitte, 25, all arrested and convicted as well.
Penny was the crew's hacker, and he broke into the IT system of an unnamed UK company that buys and sells gold bullion.
Hacker stole delivery details for gold bullion packages
The hacker used his access to steal information about the company's customers that purchased various quantities of gold, which has not yet been delivered.
Penny would relay this information to his three accomplices, who would go to the customers' addresses and intercept the deliveries, posing as the packages' owners.
Their plan was foiled when the crew went to intercept a parcel in the city of Newcastle. The postman, who knew the victim, refused to hand over the package and informed authorities.
All four crooks captured and sentenced
Police arrested Penny on June 26, 2015. After searching his house, police seized six iPhones and two MacBooks, one of which was hidden inside Penny's toilet water cistern.
The gold bullion trading company also reported that Penny tried to extort them from £50,000 ($66,000). The four-man crew stole gold products in excess of £88,000 ($116,000).
"Penny hacked into the computers of the company and got others to intercept the gold packages for him. When even this wasn't enough for his lavish lifestyle, he blackmailed the company for £50,000," Detective Constable Matt Burke, of the Cyber Crime Unit, said. "At the time of his arrest Penny was living in a luxury apartment in the Canary Wharf area, despite having no paid employment that we could identify."
Penny pleaded guilty to all charges on April 1, 2016, along with his accomplices. Prior to Penny's conviction, the other three also received their sentences.
Wilkins was sentenced to 22 months' imprisonment, Mansouri was sentenced to 200 hours community service and ordered to pay £1,000 in costs, and Rabbitte got 18 months in jail, suspended for two years.
