Teen used hi-tech devices, advanced tools to conceal his identity: Cop

For almost an entire year, security agencies were on toes, rushing to evacuate children from schools or sometimes even hospitals. The reason was bomb threat emails that made them go into a tizzy.

Advertisement

The cops investigated thoroughly, but most of the time they did not get any major success. There were a few successful apprehensions but a large chunk of cases remained unresolved.

However on January 8, yet another threat mail warning more than 25 schools of the presence of explosives on their premises was thoroughly investigated by the cops. This time, they managed to get a major breakthrough.

A teen boy was found involved in sending threats to more than 400 schools in the past year. But how did he escape from the eyes of the police for so long?

The accused is a juvenile studying in a public school. On questioning, he told the cops that he wanted to delay the examination. So, he sent the threat mails.

However, as the cops proceeded with the investigation, things were not matching up. “It was not like whenever he sent a threat email, there was an examination. When the forensic analysis of his mobile and laptop was done, it revealed that he was using high-tech devices,” a senior officer privy to the probe said.

The cops were suspicious of his statements and further carried out a technical analysis. “The accused used multiple anonymous and encrypted email service providers and advanced tools to conceal his identity,” the officer said, indicating the reason as to why the teen managed to evade apprehension for almost a year.

It was also revealed that the teen boy masked his IP address using VPN. The hoax threats were delivered through heavily encrypted email services and complex digital pathways, clearly indicating intent to conceal identity and evade detection.

However, this time the cops uncovered his digital trail using advanced technical methods.

“We employed advanced cyber forensic techniques to trace the origin of the threat emails and identified him,” the senior police officer said.