An Illinois man has been sentenced to more than six years in prison after admitting to hacking the Snapchat accounts of hundreds of women to steal private intimate images, which he kept, sold and traded online.
Kyle Svara, 27, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston to 76 months (six years and four months) in prison after pleading guilty to multiple offences linked to a large-scale cybercrime operation.
The case stemmed from an earlier prosecution involving former Northeastern University track-and-field coach Steve Waithe, who paid Svara to hack the Snapchat accounts of female student-athletes and other women in order to obtain their private photographs.
According to U.S. prosecutors, Svara carried out the scheme between May 2020 and February 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using anonymised internet-based phone numbers, he sent phishing text messages to more than 1,500 women, posing as members of Snapchat’s support team.
The fraudulent messages tricked victims into providing security verification codes, allowing Svara to gain unauthorised access to at least 517 Snapchat accounts.
Investigators said he downloaded nude or semi-nude photographs from the accounts of at least 59 women. Rather than keeping the images solely for personal use, Svara also advertised his hacking services online, offering to obtain private content for paying clients.
One such client was Steve Waithe, who paid Svara US$50 to hack the accounts of women, including athletes he had previously coached.
Waithe was sentenced in 2024 to five years in prison after being convicted of multiple schemes to coerce or steal intimate images from young women. Prosecutors said his crimes affected at least 56 victims across the United States.
Svara pleaded guilty in February to charges including computer fraud, aggravated identity theft, and making false statements to law enforcement. Prosecutors said he falsely claimed to have no interest in child sexual abuse material, despite investigators discovering such content linked to his online accounts.
During sentencing, Svara’s lawyers said he had expressed “profound remorse and shame” for his actions, arguing that the offences occurred during a period of isolation while he was studying at the University of Illinois during the COVID-19 lockdown.
The case highlights the growing threat of phishing attacks and the serious legal consequences of cyber-enabled privacy violations and identity theft.
Source: citinews
