Sometimes posting photos online can get us into big trouble. For example, a photo of your driver's license could reveal personal information that can be used by fraudsters to commit fraud. However, even a seemingly innocent photo can reveal a lot more. This is what happened to a drug dealer who, using an EncroChat phone (an encrypted device used by criminals to coordinate illegal activities), posted a photo of himself holding a piece of cheese.
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Merseyside Police in the United Kingdom were able to successfully identify the drug dealer, who was operating on EncroChat under the alias Toffeeforce, through the photo. The dealer is named as Carl Stewart , 39, from Liverpool. Police convicted Stewart of conspiracy to supply cocaine, heroin, MDMA, and ketamine. It is unclear why he posted the photo of the blue cheese, but the photo and his confession led to him being sentenced to 13 years and six months in prison.
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Stewart appears to have made two mistakes in posting the cheese photo. First, the photo contained a clear image of his fingerprints and palm. Police were able to analyze the image and lead them to Stewart. Stewart is not the first criminal to be convicted thanks to his exposed fingerprints in a photo.
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The second mistake is that he shared the photo via EncroChat. The encrypted service was breached last year by authorities, who secretly gained access to criminals’ conversations. Since then, Police says authorities have identified around 10,000 of EncroChat’s users in the UK who were involved in coordinating the supply and distribution of drugs and weapons, money laundering and other illegal activities. In total, 60,000 users have been identified worldwide.
Source: The Verge
