Hard cheese: Stilton snap shared via EncroChat leads to drug dealer's downfall
- Reference: 1621924207
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/05/25/cheese_fingerprint_prison/
- Source link:
Liverpool resident Carl Stewart, 39, who went by the name "Toffeeforce" on now-defunct message service EncroChat, was sent down at Liverpool Crown Court after pleading guilty to charges of conspiring to supply cocaine, heroin, MDMA, and ketamine, and of transferring criminal property. Merseyside police claimed they were able to identify Stewart from his palm and fingerprints, which were visible in a snap of Stilton he shared via EncroChat. That linked him to Toffeeforce's drug deals in the chat app, the cops said.
EncroChat was founded in 2016 as an encrypted instant-messaging service and was said to have been favored by criminals as a communication tool until 2020. That's when the UK National Crime Agency, in conjunction with authorities in Europe, [1]infiltrated the platform and shut it down, seizing lots of [2]useful information . The service was said to have 60,000 users worldwide at the time, with 10,000 in the UK.
[3]Belgian police seize 28 tons of cocaine after 'cracking' Sky ECC's chat app encryption
[4]US govt indicted me because I make privacy tools, says crypto-chat app CEO accused of helping drug smugglers
[5]EncroChat hack case: RAM, bam... what? Data in transit is data at rest, rules UK Court of Appeal
[6]Command 'n' control botnet of notorious Emotet Windows ransomware shut down in multinational police raid
"Carl Stewart was involved in supplying large amounts of class A and B drugs, but was caught out by his love of Stilton cheese, after sharing a picture of a block of it in his hand through EncroChat," said Detective Inspector Lee Wilkinson in [7]a statement at the end of last week. "His palm and fingerprints were analyzed from this picture and it was established they belonged to Stewart."
Wilkinson said the EncroChat takedown, known as Operation Venetic, has led Merseyside Police to arrest more than 60 people, many of whom face charges for drug trafficking or firearms offenses.
[8]
The photo of the cheese that led to Carl Stewart's conviction ... Source: Merseyside Police
The incident invites comparison with the 2014 reproduction of the fingerprints of then German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen [9]from a photograph of her hand by biometrics expert Jan Krisller's (a.k.a. Starbug). Fingerprints depicted in images also played a role in the [10]2015 conviction of a Florida man for sex crimes with a toddler.
Other identifying marks like tattoos have also been used in this manner. Following the recent arrest and extradition of Ndrangheta fugitive Marc Feren Claude Biart in the Dominican Republic, authorities [11]said they spotted Biart's tattoos in a YouTube video and were able to identify him even though his face was not shown.
[12]
[13]
And last year, US federal authorities charged a Philadelphia, PA woman with arson that occurred during a protest over the death of George Floyd after they [14]identified her from details captured in images and videos , including a distinctive shirt and a tattoo on her arm. ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/02/encrochat_op_venetic_encrypted_phone_arrests/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/13/encrochat_hack_judicial_review_judgment/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/08/sky_ecc_drugs/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/15/sky_global_indicted/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/08/encrochat_court_appeal_ruling/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/27/emotet_botnet_taken_down_europol/
[7] https://www.merseyside.police.uk/news/merseyside/news/2021/may/liverpool-man-latest-to-be-jailed-as-part-of-national-operation-venetic/
[8] https://regmedia.co.uk/2021/05/24/merseyside_police_stilton.jpg
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2014/12/29/german_minister_fingered_as_hackers_steal_her_thumbprint_from_a_photo/
[10] https://www.heraldtribune.com/article/LK/20150620/News/605199819/SH
[11] https://twitter.com/INTERPOL_HQ/status/1376849694412967938
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YKzKw62-XoihL4p6I02P@AAAAFQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YKzKw62-XoihL4p6I02P@AAAAFQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/17/facile_recognition_feds/
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Yeah, you've got to hand it to them!
Indeed. And it's another case of not needing backdoored encryption or violating one's privacy without a warrant to get the job done.
Was it the finger prints or the metadata in the pictures. I mean I know that police are allowed to lie, but most crims forget about that. Because for such a small scale crim it's a lot of work to get the print and then pass it through some database that costs a fair bit compared to passing the pic in some "forensics" too that reads the metadata and gets the location.
I think you'll find the intention is to make it *not* a lot of work. All these platforms online with citizens happily identifying themselves gives a good dataset which can be run through when any are arrested, for measuring success rate (should one actually care about accuracy).
Seems like a great tool for plod and MI5 etc to have so I am sure there is plenty of investment in developing the tooling. Frankly I think its fine, scraping publicly available data for catching real criminals... fine.
Using that data to track people in case they're criminals, or upset BoJo et al... not fine.
I'm sure they'll stick with the former, right?
If he got 13yrs6months, he was hardly small scale.
I also doubt the fuzz had to do an expensive database search, I am guessing they already had a palm print, suspected him and just needed some corroberation, he handed it to them.
So lessons to learn for all you up and coming ne'er-do-wells. Dont take Photos, Videos or make any other form of personally identifiable details available and send them over any service. Even one claiming to be encrypted and secure, because eventually it wont be secure anymore (once the Fuzz get hold of the servers).
Oh and stay away from M&S... Really M&S branded cheese considered good? Kids these days...
"Even one claiming to be encrypted and secure, because eventually it wont be secure anymore (once the Fuzz get hold of the servers)."
Not even then? Surely anything you share you're at a risk of someone else taking a copy/police getting their computer/etc and therefore getting a copy of the image?
I see sharing something like that in the way of keeping a secret - once you tell anyone else, you have to trust them not to share/leak it from that moment.
It may not be a smart move to tell how that guy was caught, it may help others to avoid to make the same mistake.
Anyway, I fear the vacancy will (if not already) be filled by another thug.
Hard cheese
He should be more caerphilly taking photos
Re: Hard cheese
I suspect that he is feeling really cheesed off about everything.
Re: Hard cheese
It is risky to take Cheesy photos.
Re: Hard cheese
That was a rarebit of good police work.
Re: Hard cheese
Edamn straight.
Re: Hard cheese
You gouda do better than that.
Re: Hard cheese
Na it was a Brie's
Re: Hard cheese
Typical criminal, figured he was too good for the cops to be casein him out. He certainly doesn't seem to know Jack about anonymity. Perhaps he should have whey'd the consequences of his actions.
Re: Hard cheese
Indeed, he was caught Red Leicestered.
Re: Hard cheese
Glad to see they locked up this curd a whey for a long time.
Re: Hard cheese
Not a person of whom it could be said, "Cheese a Jolly Good Fellow"...
Conspiring to supply cocaine, heroin, MDMA, and ketamine
Finally an explanation of how people are able to afford to buy cheese from M&S.
"His palm and fingerprints were analyzed from this picture"
Dear $Deity, they can lift prints off of pictures now ?
Wow.
Re: "His palm and fingerprints were analyzed from this picture"
No. They can see them in the photo. You can easily duplicate this with your own phone, should you care to try it.
What a Friend We Have in Cheeses ...
... all our crimes and deeds to bare. Stilton knows our fatal weakness. Take it to the cops in care.
A nice change to see the cops actually doing good police work.
One more scally off the street.