Teen arrested for hacking minor’s Facebook account

FILE PHOTO

A second year computer technology student was arrested by anti-cybercrime cops after threatening a 17-year-old girl to post publicly her nude photos he obtained from hacking the victim’s Facebook account.

Members of the Philippine National Police’s Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP ACG) arrested Ronald Ecaro, 18, in an entrapment operation in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija province on Wednesday afternoon.

This was not the first time the suspect pulled off an extortion attempt. Police said the 17-year-old girl was Ecaro’s eighth victim.

In a statement on Thursday, Senior Supt. Marni Marcos, PNP ACG chief, said the operation stemmed from a complaint from the mother of the victim last May 1.

Marcos said Ecaro would ask for the cellphone numbers of his would-be targets from their common friends. This is so he could reset the Facebook password of his victims.

If Ecaro successfully changes the password of the victim’s account, he will then look for saved nude pictures and sexual activities on Messenger, an online chat application connected to Facebook.

“If the suspect was able to see that there are nude pictures on their messenger, he will ask for money in exchange of deleting, not uploading it to Internet, and sharing it to their social media friends,” the police official said.

Ecaro will be charged for violation of Article 294 of the Revised Penal Code or robbery with violence and intimidation committed by, through or with the use of information and communications technology (ICT) under Section 6 of Republic Act no. 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act, RA no. 9995 or the Anti-Photo and Video Voyeurism Act of 2009, and section 33 (a) or hacking under RA no. 8792 or the E-Commerce Act of 2000.

With the recent arrest, Marcos reminded the public not to share and save sensitive pictures and videos on their social media accounts. JE