Teen hacker’s lavish lifestyle curtailed after feds uncover Scattered Spider links

Peter Stokes, a 19-year-old suspected member of the infamous Scattered Spider hacking group, has been arrested in Helsinki. Authorities believe Stokes' hacking activity caused at least $2 million in damages, with the teenager splurging his gains on luxury hotels and trips.

Stokes, better known to his peers as “Bouquet,” was arrested after attempting to board a plane leaving Helsinki for Tokyo, the Chicago Tribune reported. Reportedly, the teenage hacker was apprehended during one of many international trips financed by his hacking activities.

Authorities link Bouquet to Scattered Spider, one of the most prominent hacking groups of the past few years. The gang is best known for social engineering attacks, including the highly publicized cyberattacks on MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment in Las Vegas in September 2023.

Bouquet flashed large sums of money

Court documents, obtained by the Chicago Tribune, claim that Stokes assisted in infiltrating a large Chicago-area corporation and in collecting millions of dollars in ransom payments with other Scattered Spider members. Some of the crimes were allegedly committed when the young hacker was just 16.

Reportedly, Stokes was hardly discreet about his newly acquired wealth. The teenager spent money on trips to Dubai, Thailand, New York, and Europe. Images included in the US District Court records show Stokes with a diamond-encrusted chain, spelling “HACK THE PLANET.” The teenager's Snapchat posts featured large sums of cash and expensive watches.

The hacker reportedly went as far as taunting authorities in public posts depicting attempted login attempts to his own systems, followed by the phrase, “Fuck off, FBI.” Stokes, who has dual American-Estonian citizenship, even posted from inside a police station in Estonia, comparing himself to a fictional high-profile criminal, Raymond Reddington.

The teenage hacker also compared his cybercrime gang with the fictional crime family in the HBO show The Sopranos, penning his own name over the character who led the show’s crime family in the first season.

However, like so many mafiosos, Stokes was arrested on April 10th with numerous electronic devices and at least two 2-terabyte hard drives.

Responsible for Harrods hacking?

Reportedly, Stokes was instrumental in a May 2025 attack against a “multibillion-dollar luxury item retailer.” Court documents claim the Scattered Spider breached the company after pretending to be employees requesting the reset of authentication credentials.

Stokes, together with accomplices, used those credentials to access the admin accounts of the victim’s IT personnel and proceeded to hack into the company’s main server. While the company eventually refused to pay the $8 million ransom the hackers demanded, the downtime and mitigation costs reportedly exceeded $2 million.

While the “luxury item retailer” is not explicitly named, Scattered Spider targeted Harrods, a high-end luxury department store in London. At the same time, hackers hit another British retailer, Marks & Spencer, causing the company major financial losses.

After the attacks, authorities arrested several of the gang’s members. Four members of the Shiny Hunters gang were arrested in June 2025 by French authorities.

Meanwhile, another member of the gang, Noah Michael Urban, better known by the nickname King Bob, a reference to the Minions movie, was sentenced to 10 years behind bars after pleading guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud.

---

Unlock exclusive Cybernews content on YouTube