U.S. prosecutors have charged an Illinois man with running a phishing scheme that allowed him to hack the Snapchat accounts of nearly 600 women, steal private images, and sell the content online.
Authorities say the operation relied on impersonating Snapchat representatives to trick victims into sharing account access codes.
According to court documents, 26-year-old Kyle Svara carried out the scheme between May 2020 and February 2021, targeting more than 4,500 people. By posing as Snap support through text messages, he allegedly collected login credentials from around 570 victims, gaining unauthorized access to dozens of accounts and downloading explicit photos.
Prosecutors say Svara later advertised his hacking services on platforms like Reddit, offering to break into Snapchat accounts or trade stolen content. One of his clients was Steve Waithe, a former Northeastern University coach who was sentenced to five years in prison in 2024 for sextortion and cyberstalking involving over 100 women.
Svara now faces multiple federal charges, including aggravated identity theft, wire fraud, and computer fraud, and is scheduled to appear in federal court on February 4.
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