Pervy Repairman Added Spyware to Laptops

A computer repairman in California doubled up as a virtual Peeping Tom, adding spyware to the Mac laptops of female customers so he could photograph them undressing and showering, police say. Hundreds of thousands of images and videos have been seized from the computer of 20-year-old Trevor Harwell, who has been slapped with 12 felony counts of computer access and fraud, AP reports.

Harwell installed software that hijacked the laptops' webcams and displayed this bogus error message: "You should fix your internal sensor soon. If unsure what to do, try putting your laptop near hot steam for several minutes to clean the sensor." Police say this prompted many women to take their laptops into the bathroom with them while they showered. He was busted after a man complained about suspicious messages appearing on his daughter's laptop, reports the Los Angeles Times. (More spyware stories.)