This week in Boston’s federal court, Kyle Svara, 27, of Oswego, Ill., pleaded guilty to a slew of charges stemming from his Snapchat phishing scheme.
According to officials, Kyle duped hundreds of college-age women into giving him access to their Snapchat accounts. Once he gained access to these accounts, Kyle managed to obtain at least 59 nude photos without the users’ consent or knowledge.
A press release from the U.S. District Attorney’s Office details the Kyle’s scam:
From at least May 2020 to February 2021, Svara used social engineering and other resources to collect victim emails, phone numbers and/or Snapchat usernames. He used those means of identification to access victim Snapchat accounts, which prompted Snap Inc. to send account security codes to victims. Using anonymized phone numbers, Svara posed as a representative of Snap Inc. and texted more than 4,500 victims requesting those Snapchat access codes. When approximately 570 women provided those codes, Svara accessed the Snapchat accounts of at least 59 women without permission and downloaded their nude or semi-nude images. Once he had the stolen images, Svara sold or traded them on internet forums or in transactions with others who had hired him to hack the Snapchat accounts. Svara advertised on internet forums like Reddit that he could “get into girls snap accounts” for others and provide content “for you or trade.”
On Wednesday, he pleaded guilty to
- aggravated identity theft,
- wire fraud,
- computer fraud,
- conspiracy to commit computer fraud and
- false statements to investigators
His sentencing will take place on May 18, 2026. He faces up to 20 years in federal prison.