A Northern Ireland man was sentenced Friday to a minimum of 20 years in prison after being found guilty by a U.K. court in what has been described as the biggest criminal “catfishing” case in the country. Alex McCartney, 26, had pleaded guilty earlier this year to a charge of manslaughter in a Northern Ireland court after a young American girl who was among the thousands of alleged victims he blackmailed online died by suicide. 

McCartney had admitted to a total of 185 charges involving 70 child victims in court — including blackmail, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and producing and distributing indecent images of children. He was also held culpable for the death of 12-year-old Cimarron Thomas in West Virginia, according to the U.K.’s Press Association news agency. 

Thomas, who lived in West Virginia with her mother, father and siblings, died of suicide in May 2018.  During her online interactions with McCartney, authorties say he attempted to coerce her into sending graphic images involving a younger sibling.

McCartney was already under investigation at the time, and was about to face charges from British investigators when authorities discovered Cimarron’s identity and the circumstances of her death, CBS News’ partner network BBC News reported Friday.  

Thomas’ father, a U.S. Army veteran, died by suicide 18 months after his daughter, not knowing any of the circumstances behind Cimarron’s death.

Jim Gamble, a former senior British police officer specializing in child safety, told BBC News that it was a “shocking case.”  

“The sheer scale of it and the horrific nature of the harm inflicted on these young girls makes it one of the worst I’ve ever seen,” Gamble said, adding: “Don’t watch this and think this happens very rarely.”

Detective Chief Superintendent Eamonn Corrigan of the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s Crime Operations Department issued a statement Friday, calling McCartney “nothing but a disgusting child predator who was posing as young girls online to groom, manipulate and sexually abuse his victims, as young as four, to satisfy his own sexual perversions and that of other online child sexual offenders.”

McCartney’s crimes occurred between 2014 and 2019, when he’s believed by police to have targeted about 3,500 victims, mostly via Snapchat, all over the world, including in Australia, New Zealand and the U.S., according to the Press Association. The case against him in the Belfast Crown Court focused on 70 child victims, including Thomas.

There was no immediate response to Friday’s verdict against McCartney from Snapchat. The social messaging app was accused in September of having features that make it a favored platform of sexual criminals targeting children, in a lawsuit filed by New Mexico against its parent company, Snap Inc.

An undercover investigation by the state found Snapchat has crafted “an environment where predators can easily target children through sextortion schemes and other forms of sexual abuse,” Attorney General Raúl Torrez said in a news release.

In a statement responding to the New Mexico case, Snap said the app was designed “as a place to communicate with a close circle of friends, with built-in safety guardrails,” and it said there were “deliberate design choices to make it difficult for strangers to discover minors on our service.”

“We continue to evolve our safety mechanisms and policies, from leveraging advanced technology to detect and block certain activity, to prohibiting friending from suspicious accounts, to working alongside law enforcement and government agencies, among so much more,” the company said, adding that it continued to work with “industry, government, and law enforcement to exchange information and concept stronger defenses.”

While interest rates on traditional borrowing products like credit cards and personal loans are high right now – as they’ve been for much of the last few years – rates on home equity loans and home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) are in the single digits. And those rates could fall further if the Federal Reserve issues additional interest rate cuts to follow up on its September reduction. Combined with the knowledge that the average homeowner has approximately $330,000 in home equity right now, it’s understandable if borrowers are considering turning to home equity loans to help make ends meet.

But while there are timely benefits to using a home equity loan right now, there are also some significant risks that borrowers should be aware of heading into November. Below, we’ll break down three important ones to know before right now.

See what home equity loan rate you could qualify for here.

3 home equity loan risks to know this November

Home equity loans can benefit a wide swath of homeowners, but there are some inherent risks to the product that they should navigate around this November. Specifically, they should know that:

Interest rates could drop

Interest rates on home equity loans could and likely will fall in November if the Fed proceeds with another anticipated rate cut. That’s an advantage, on paper, but it means that the rate you secure earlier in the month may not be as low as what’s readily available later in November or in December. And you won’t be able to take advantage because home equity loan rates are fixed and will need to be refinanced to secure a lower rate. In this climate, then, a HELOC, which comes with variable interest rates subject to change monthly may be better. A HELOC will likely have lower rates — and, thus, lower payments — for multiple months to come as interest rates decline.

Get started with a HELOC now.

You may have an extra expense

As noted, home equity loan rates could drop, perhaps by a significant margin, after you’ve already opened a loan. You’ll then need to refinance to secure that newer rate and that will come at a cost. Home equity loan refinancing typically costs 1% to 5% of the total loan value. And if you’re taking out a significant amount of equity, that could prove to be a costly expense. To avoid this extra expense, then, it’s again worth considering a HELOC. HELOC rates adjust independently with no action — or expense — required on behalf of the borrower.

You may be tempted to overborrow

As mentioned above, the average home equity amount is closing in on $330,000 right now. That’s a lot of money to utilize, particularly at a relatively low interest rate. Knowing this, it may be tempting to overborrow right now. But that would be a mistake. Your home functions as collateral when borrowing home equity from a lender. And, if you withdraw too much and can’t repay your debt, you could risk losing your home in the process. So calculate your exact needs and borrow only that much with a home equity loan. If you don’t know precisely how much you need to borrow, consider a HELOC, which has more flexibility and works similarly to a revolving line of credit like a credit card.

The bottom line

Home equity loans offer unique benefits for borrowers, even now (they have slightly lower rates than HELOCs currently). But there are some timely risks to know this November, too, like the potential to get locked in at a higher rate as the overall rate climate cools, the extra expense of having to refinance and the temptation to overborrow via one lump sum. By understanding these risks and working around them via alternatives like HELOCs, home equity users can better position themselves for financial success, both in November and for the long term.

Have more questions? Learn more about home equity loans and HELOCs here.