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TODAY we publish the first photos of a Scot accused of being a key member of a hacking group that crippled Marks & Spencer.
Tyler Buchanan, 23, is said to be one of the ringleaders of the Scattered Spider cyber gang.
He is believed to have fled after masked thugs burst into his mum’s Dundee home and threatened him with lit blowtorches.
Spanish cops arrested him last summer in Majorca as he tried to board a flight to Naples, Italy.
And last week he was extradited to the US where he could face 47 years behind bars if convicted. The FBI has claimed that Scattered Spider has cost retail giant M&S a fortune in lost revenue.
The group — of around 1,000 teens and young men in the UK and the US — has also been blamed for attacks on other major brands.
Last night a neighbour told how they had not seen ex-Craigie High pupil Buchanan since the raid on mum Gaynor Andrews’ pad in February 2023.
Thugs are said to have burst into the home in the city’s Douglas and demanded passwords for his cryptocurrency accounts.
The resident said: “A car turned up and about four or five guys piled out. They went in the house and apparently threatened Tyler with a burning from a blowtorch unless he told them what they wanted to know.”
According to reports on messaging app Telegram, which ‘Tylerb’ was known to frequent, rivals hired the thugs to invade his home.
The same accounts claim that the intruders assaulted Tylerb’s mother.
US court documents show Scots cops found “approximately 20 devices” and browser history allegedly showing Buchanan registered websites used by Scattered Spider.
Photos passed to American authorities show a clean-shaven man in a hoodie believed to be Buchanan.
Another shot shows the alleged cyber mastermind as a teen schoolboy while he sports shoulder-length hair and a thick moustache in his passport photo.
Buchanan is alleged to have stolen £20million in cryptocurrency plus private customer details.
He has been detained after being charged with wire fraud and identity theft at a court in California.
Buchanan plus four co-defendants are accused of fooling employees into sharing login details.
Victims were allegedly told crypto accounts would be closed and were directed to a legitimate-looking website where their cash vanished.
Buchanan and US music leaker Noah Urban were arrested with three other Scattered Spider members last year in an FBI operation.
Urban, now 20, was unmasked as the teen hacker behind the early release of songs from Ariana Grande’s album Eternal Sunshine.
Prosecutors say they have linked his illegal activities to Buchanan.
Buchanan’s dad Rab declined to comment.
Police Scotland was approached for comment.
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