Teen tracking Elon Musk’s jet turns his sights to Russian billionaires

The plucky US teen tracking Elon Musk’s jet has turned his sights to Russian billionaires as sanctions continue to pummel the nation.

Florida teen Jack Sweeney has made it his mission to track the comings and goings of billionaires.

Jack Sweeney made international headlines last month after revealing himself as the cheeky teen behind the Twitter account tracking Elon Musk’s private jet.

Now, his new hobby includes automated Twitter accounts called Russian Oligarch Jets, @RUOligarchJets and @PutinJet.

The latter specifically focuses on the whereabouts of planes belonging to Russian VIPs and Vladimir Putin. The accounts have a total of nearly half a million followers.

“Planes, they all transmit their location. It’s more of like a security feature after 9/11. Instead of radar they all have identifiers, and they transmit their speed and location,” the University of Central Florida student said.

The 19-year-old said an algorithm focused on public data enables him to uncover who owns the aircraft and subsequently track individuals across the world.

In March, Sweeney set his sights on the whereabouts of yachts owned by Russian billionaires with the new handle @RussiaYachts.

The youngster admitted tracking becomes difficult for many people because a large portion of the planes on public websites are blocked.

"I make it more available for others to see," Sweeney added.

It comes as a growing number of vessels belonging to Russian tycoons are cruising around the Maldives, Montenegro and the Seychelles, just as multiple sanctions have been slapped on their homeland,

As the war in Ukraine heads into its second week, Russian billionaires appear to be fleeing in order to escape potential asset seizures.

Sweeney posted a list of several prominent Russians and the names of their vessels on Twitter, confirming he’d be “keeping watch and posting updates”.

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Now I've set up @RussiaYachts not automated yet but we'll be keeping watch and posting updates. https://t.co/QdciPnHofh

— Jack Sweeney (@JxckSweeney) March 6, 2022

Last week, France announced it had seized a superyacht owned by Russia’s oil tsar Igor Sechin, following through on threats to target sanctioned oligarchs close to Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

The estimated $US120 million ($A163 million) vessel “Amore Vero” was seized while undergoing maintenance work at a shipyard at La Ciotat on the French Riviera, a popular summer playground for the super-rich.

Aside from the @ElonJet and Russian-focused accounts, Sweeney operates accounts that track the flights of jets owned by several other billionaires and well-known figures, including Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates.

The French government on March 3 said it had seized in La Ciotat a superyacht owned by a company linked to Igor Sechin, chief executive of Russian energy giant Rosneft and close confidant of the Russian President.

Musk reached out to Sweeney via direct message last November, asking the teenager to shut down the tracking bot because it posed a “security risk.”

The pair exchanged messages and the Tesla founder eventually offered him $US5000 ($A7000) to delete the account. “I don’t love the idea of being shot by a nutcase,” Musk said. Sweeney counter-offered, requesting $US50,000 ($A71,000) and an internship to delete the account. Musk said he’d consider the offer, ultimately decided it didn’t “feel right” to pay to shut down the account and stopped responding.

The @ElonJet account gained more than 200,000 followers since the New York Post and other outlets reported on his direct message conversation with Musk.