The UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) has identified two drug traffickers, thanks to photos they took and sent via the EncroChat chat platform , believing the communication to be secure. The photos showed the drug traffickers' faces, but the crucial piece of information that led to their identification was a photo of one of the suspects' pet dogs.
Danny Brown , 55, from Bromley, and Stefan Baldauf , 62, from Ealing, were sentenced earlier this year to 26 and 28 years in prison respectively by the UK's Serious and Organised Crime Agency
Their identities were revealed as part of Operation Venetic, the UK law enforcement response to the takedown of EncroChat in 2020.EncroChat was an encrypted platform used by criminals around the world. The app had become very popular among crooks because it allowed them to securely communicate with each other and exchange information about their illegal activities.
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While it's unclear exactly how the police managed to break the system, the impact has been felt over the past two years. EncroChat is said to have been used by 60,000 people worldwide. Of these, around 10,000 were in the UK.
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However, because users only referred to themselves by pseudonyms in the chats, the NCA was unable to immediately discover the identities of the two drug traffickers.
Unbeknownst to them, the two men took and shared photos that led to their arrests. Brown shared a photo of a televisionwith his face reflected in it. Baldauf's face was reflected in a photo of a door he uploaded to the messaging app.
Brown also made the mistake of sending a photo of his pet dog, Bob, to Baldauf. NCA investigators said they were able to zoom in on the pet's tag, which had a phone number belonging to Brown's partner.
The two were convicted, along with several others, of attempting to ship 448 kilograms of MDMA worth £45 million ($55 million) to Australia. The drugs were hidden in a 40-tonne industrial excavator.
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NCA operations director Chris Hillsaid the organised crime went to great lengths to ensure it went unnoticed, but it failed.
“These men thought they were safe on EncroChat, but my officers did an excellent and painstaking job of building the evidence against them through a mix of traditional and modern skills,” he added.
“Brown and Baldauf's random selfies and the photo of Bob the dog were the icing on the cake“.
Source: www.infosecurity-magazine.com
