Alcasec whose real name is Jose Luis Huertas (19) is accused of allegedly claiming to steal the taxation details of 90% of the Spanish population and boasting about it in a podcast.
The most wanted Spanish hacker “Alcasec,” also known as the “Robin Hood of Spanish Hackers,” has been arrested in Madrid, Spain. The 19-year-old hacker, Jose Luis Huertas, was apprehended by Spanish police for allegedly hacking and stealing the sensitive data of millions of taxpayers from the national revenue service.
Huertas, who went by the aliases Alcasec and Mango, was booked by the police for stealing sensitive data of over 575,000 taxpayers. Spanish law enforcement authorities classified him as one of the country’s most notorious hackers believed to have expertise in money laundering and cyber assets. Authorities have kept him in custody as the judge declared him a flight risk.
Spanish intelligence agencies identified Huertas by tracking the cryptocurrency wallets he used to make payments for servers that stored the stolen data. Investigators discovered more than $543,000 worth of crypto in the wallet he allegedly controlled.
In addition, according to local Spanis media, authorities found a considerable amount in cash, which hinted that he was involved in money laundering.
Huertas is accused of allegedly claiming to steal the taxation details of 90% of the Spanish population and boasting about it in a podcast. Reportedly, he invaded a centralized file transfer system that connected the executive branch tax agencies with the judiciary, leading to a cyberattack.
During the attack, he stole sensitive data of taxpayers, including salary amounts, financial account numbers, telephone numbers, credit card numbers, addresses, online shopping histories, and geolocation. The incident occurred in October 2022.
He also allegedly developed a search engine called Udyat, where he stored the data stolen from numerous cyberattacks, offering it for sale on Dark Web forums and earning millions of euros.
Jose Luis Huertas started hacking in 2019 when he was 15 and got noticed after hacking HBO and creating over 150,000 free accounts distributed on Instagram. One of his earliest scams was giving free Burger King orders and forwarding driver’s licenses on behalf of the General Directorate of Traffic.
Gradually, he started targeting sensitive national websites, including the General Council of the Judiciary database, the Telecinco channel, municipal sites, the Tax Agency, and the National Police, from which he collected the personal details of over 50,000 Spanish police officers.
During the Telecinco television station hacking, he reportedly robbed its CEO of €300,000. Moreover, he was a member of a gang that hacked the Granada and Madrid city administrations and stole €53,000, which was converted into cryptocurrency.
Watch the podcast in which Alcase boasted about his attacks:
This arrest will have significant positive implications for Spain, as Huertas won’t be able to conduct new hacks. It also serves as a warning message to other hackers that authorities will eventually find and punish them.