Egyptian arrested over alleged online blackmail

Egyptian authorities have arrested a suspected hacker accused of stealing females' Facebook accounts and blackmailing them for their private photos, the Interior Ministry said in a statement Thursday.

The suspect, 31, from the coastal province of Alexandria, was busted by the police IT department after pursuing his device IP address based on a report from a 20-year-old victim.

"The suspect hacked the victim's personal computer and remotely opened its camera and microphone to track her and her family at home," the report said, noting the police found a folder on the suspect's computer containing relevant private clips and photos.

The man confessed that he learned the tricks from hacking tutorial websites and that he had already hacked about 1,270 devices. He forced his victims to send him more private photos, threatening to make public what he had already captured if they did not comply. Endit