An east Londoner who was found with indecent images of children and was linked to an online criminal group that blackmailed young teenage girls has been sentenced.
The National Crime Agency investigated Richard Ehiemere, from Hackney, now 21, after receiving a referral from Discord in January 2021, when he was 17.
The online platform was concerned about the activities of the CVLT group, to which Ehiemere was linked.
CVLT is a form of ‘Com’ network, which is typically made up of young males who share harmful and misogynistic content and commit a range of online offences. Members attempt to gain status within the group by committing or encouraging ever more shocking or harmful acts.
Ehiemere’s sentencing comes after the NCA’s latest National Strategic Assessment, published in March, warned about the dangers posed by ‘Com networks’. The investigation into Ehiemere established that he had logged on to the “Retaliate#1337” account hundreds of times, which had access to Discord channels connected to CVLT.
“Retaliate#1337” had disclosed stolen email addresses and passwords, known as ‘combo lists’, and the profile is also believed to have shared indecent images of children (IIOC).
NCA investigators were able to trace these log-ons back to Ehiemere’s home address in Hackney, where he was arrested in April 2021 with the assistance of the Metropolitan Police Service.
His mobile phone was seized and found to contain 29 IIOC, ranging from category A (the most severe) to category C. Conversations relating to hacking, selling unlawfully obtained material and how to avoid detection were also stored on it.
A computer tower was found with 142 combo lists stored on it, each containing personal details which had been stolen and could have been used to defraud victims.
A number of accounts and software associated with VPN providers – which are used to mask the user’s location – such as “ExpressVPN”, “NordVPN”, “MullvadVPN” and “OpenVPN” were also found. “ExpressVPN” and “MullvadVPN” were used to access the relevant Retaliate account when emails and passwords were shared.
More broadly, members of CVLT and other com networks are known to target girls on social media platforms such as Discord. They used online monikers to communicate and persuade them to send intimate photos of themselves.
Members in these groups threaten to ‘dox’ their victims, which involves revealing real-world identities and publishing other personal information online, in order to coerce them into complying with their demands.
CVLT victims would often be targeted by one member of the group who would persuade them to send intimate images of themselves, either by coercion or consent. This material would then be used by the wider group to blackmail the victim into sending increasingly extreme content.
Girls are often forced to join group calls, where they would be instructed to carry out sexual acts and acts of self-harm for their audience. In severe cases, vulnerable victims have been encouraged to kill themselves on camera.
Ehiemere was charged with two fraud offences and three IIOC offences and convicted by a jury at Aldersgate Nightingale Court on 25 February this year, following a seven-day trial. He was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months and given a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order at Snaresbrook Crown Court today (1 May).
