A laptop repair man who was caught copying private photos and bank passwords in an undercover investigation has been jailed for nine months.
Grzegorz Zachodni was filmed in a undercover investigation by Sky News last year.
The Sky investigators, who were acting on tip-offs from PC Pro readers, were attempting to uncover rogue PC repair shops. Zachondi, who worked for Laptop Revival in Hammersmith, was caught using undercover footage secretly recorded with the laptop’s webcam.
Hopefully this conviction will be a warning to the computer repair industry that the copying or use of customer’s private and personal information is not acceptable
Zachondi, who was supposed to be fixing a fault with the laptop’s memory, opened a folder marked ‘Private’ that was planted on the PC by Sky’s investigators. The folder contained intimate snaps of a Sky researcher wearing a bikini.
After calling over a colleague to look at the pictures, he proceeded to copy the files to his personal USB drive. The stolen photos were stored in a folder called “MAMMA JAMMAS”, which is urban slang for females with large breasts.
He also attempted to break into the researcher’s online bank account, and copied her Facebook and eBay logins and passwords to his USB drive.
Sky passed on its evidence to the Metropolitan Police Service’s Economic and Specialist Crime Unit, who arrested Zachondi last October.
Zachondi pleaded guilty to fraud on 7 July at West London Magistrate’s Court. He was today sentenced to nine months in prison.
Investigating officer DC Chris Young said: “Hopefully this conviction will be a warning to the computer repair industry that the copying or use of customer’s private and personal information is not acceptable and the Metropolitan Police Economic and Specialist Crime Directorate will endeavour to prosecute any person found to have committed offences regarding these abuses.”
Click here to see Sky’s report on the story and watch Sky News at 5pm for a full report.
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