Robert Davies, 32, came to the attention of NCA investigators in 2019 after he purchased a number of cybercrime tools, including crypters and remote administration tools (RATs). He was also identified as a customer of weleakinfo, an online marketplace selling stolen credentials, which was taken offline last year following an NCA-led investigation. Davies was infecting his victims’ phones or computers with malicious software by disguising it with the crypters so their anti-virus protection would not detect it. He then used the RATs to gain remote access to their devices and steal any sexual images (mainly of females) they had stored on there. On at least one occasion, he used his illegal access to spy on a teenage girl through her webcam, turning the encounter into a number of indecent images. Officers recovered this, along with a further 27 indecent images and videos of children, on his computer. In total NCA officers identified and visited over 30 victims of Davies throughout the course of the investigation. Increasing the barrier of entry into cyber crime by reducing the availability of, and accessibility to, off-the-shelf tools is a key focus for the NCA.
