Scotland jails a crypto fraudster for eight years for directing a plot from his prison cell to empty a household's wallet by remote control

A man who ran a cryptocurrency theft plot from his prison cell has been jailed for eight years in Scotland. Lord Cubie sentenced Robert Barr at the High Court in Glasgow, along with Iain Doyle, who received five years, and Sean Favier, who received four, according to the judiciary's sentencing statement dated November 10. All three pleaded guilty to involvement in serious organised crime in connection with an attempt to steal cryptocurrency.

The plan relied on remote access rather than hacking. Doyle and Favier were to get into the victims' home and have them download AnyDesk, letting Barr, who was in prison, take control of the computer and move the crypto to accounts he controlled. The statement puts the value at up to £2 million in one place and at more than £1 million in another. On April 17, 2024, at about 11:30pm, the two men rang the doorbell and spoke to the occupants over the intercom, but were not let in and left.

Barr had earlier received 21 months for a similar crypto fraud. The judge treated organising a new crime from prison as a material aggravating factor and said that without the guilty plea he would have imposed eight years and ten months. Barr's sentence runs from August 25, 2025. The court will consider a serious crime prevention order for him on November 17.