Jail for "vile" hacker who hijacked Snapchat and Instagram accounts and forced girl (15) to live-stream sex acts

Daniel Carr (27, pictured), of Violet Avenue, Edlington, Doncaster, contacted the victims, who were all aged between 15 and 25, via social networking sites between 2020 and 2022 before misusing the connections to exploit them for sexual gratification.

Sheffield Crown Court heard how one victim was a 17-year-old aspiring male model, whose Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok accounts were hacked by Carr.

The “sophisticated” cyber-criminal used the accounts to message several girls and women and ask them to send him explicit images.

Once they had sent photos, Carr used them to extort personal information and passwords allowing him access to secure sections of their accounts where more intimate photos were stored.

One user reported their concerns to police and Carr’s location was traced using software from one of the social media sites.

Police investigations revealed that on a series of earlier occasions between 2020 and 2022, Carr had hacked the social media accounts of a number of other victims.

On several occasions, he made threats to victims, stating they must hand over cash, send further explicit images, or perform sexual acts on camera, otherwise he would leak explicit images he had of them to family and friends.

He forced a 15-year-old girl to perform sexual acts on camera after he struck up a fake online relationship with her using a hacked social media account.

Carr — who remained impassive on the video link between prison and court during last Friday’s hearing — admitted four counts of disclosing or threatening to disclose private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress; four of blackmail and three of securing unauthorised computer access with intent to commit other offences ie hacking.

He also admitted causing a female aged 13 or over to engage in sexual activity without consent, oneof sending a letter, communication or article conveying indecent or offensive messages, two of possessing indecent images of children and one count of possessing extreme pornographic images

Det Con Adrian Love, who led the police investigatation, said: “The offences committed in this case are vile and have been truly distressing for the victims.

“Carr used multiple social media accounts in an attempt to conceal his identity and blackmail his victims into sharing explicit images of them.

“This case has involved a vast amount of digital forensic work but without the victims’ bravery in coming forward, Carr could not have been brought to justice.

“I hope the sentence handed down provides them with a sense of justice and that they can now move on with their lives and put these incidents behind them.”

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DC Love added: “Online sexual offences, against both children and adults, are damaging in the extreme and I would urge people to report such crimes to police so they can be investigated.

“Victims will be listened to and should know there are many avenues of support available.

“We will always do everything we can to bring those responsible to justice.”

Carr was jailed for six years and handed a sexual harm prevention order.

He will also have to sign on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

If you have been a victim of crime, you can report this by calling 101 or reporting online. Information can also be reported anonymously by calling Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org.