Hacker stole data of 78m to sell on web

A HACKER stole the details of up to 78million people to sell on the dark web and used his victims’ air miles to pay for first class flights to Las Vegas.

Grant West, 25, amassed a fortune hacking into as many as 500 firms – including Apple, Uber and Sainsbury’s – to harvest the data of hundreds of thousands of customers.

The cyber-criminal, who honed his skills over ten years, was followed by undercover police on to a train from North Wales to London in September last year. Officers watched West log into the dark web to access his passwords and account, while a second team of police sat in a carriage behind waiting to arrest him.

In the first case of its kind, Scotland Yard managed to seize £500,000 in the crypto-currency Bitcoin from West, which investigators say would now be worth £1.5million.

He faces years in jail after admitting ten offences at Southwark Crown Court, including computer hacking and conspiracy to defraud.

He will be sentenced on May 25.