An Illinois man has been charged with hacking the Snapchat accounts of nearly 600 women, including Colby College students, in order to steal and sell nude photographs, the U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday.
Kyle Svara, 26, of Oswego, Illinois, is charged with aggravated identity theft, wire fraud, computer fraud, conspiracy to commit computer fraud and false statements related to child pornography.
Between May 2020 and February 2021, Svara allegedly collected victims’ emails, phone numbers and Snapchat usernames, and used them to access their accounts, prompting the platform to send account security codes.
Posing as a representative of the company, Svara then allegedly texted the women asking for their access codes. About 570 women provided him the codes, which he allegedly used to access the accounts of at least 59 of them and download their nude or semi-nude photos, which he sold and traded on internet forums.
Svara will make an initial appearance in federal court in Boston on Feb. 4.
If convicted, he faces up to 35 years in prison and $1 million in fines.
A former Northeastern University track and field coach, Steve Waithe, was named as one of Svara’s co-conspirators. Waithe allegedly hired Svara to hack the accounts of women he coached or knew. In 2024, Waithe was sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted of wire fraud, cyberstalking and other crimes.