A former U.S. Army soldier has been sentenced to nearly six years in prison for stealing telecommunications data and threatening to release it unless companies paid ransoms, according to federal prosecutors. He and his co-conspirators sought at least $1 million through the scheme.
Cameron John Wagenius, 22, who was most recently stationed in Texas, was sentenced on Thursday to 70 months in prison and ordered to pay $294,978 in restitution, according to the U.S. Justice Department. He committed the crimes while on active duty.
Between April 2023 and December 18, 2024, Wagenius used accounts associated with the nickname “kiberphant0m” to conspire with others to obtain login credentials for at least 10 organizations’ computer networks, according to court documents.
The group used several methods to obtain the credentials, including a hacking tool called SSH Brute that Wagenius helped develop. They shared stolen credentials and discussed breaking into company networks through Telegram group chats.
After stealing data, the conspirators demanded payments through private communications and public posts, threatening to publish the information on cybercrime forums. They also offered records for sale, successfully sold some of the data and used stolen information in other fraud schemes, including SIM-swapping.
In November 2024, Wagenius published two posts disclosing confidential call records belonging to a government official and relatives of another former official. The records did not include the content of calls.
He threatened to release more records unless he received a ransom. Prosecutors said one post suggested he was seeking retaliation for the recent arrest of another cybercriminal.
“His hacking schemes were not only aimed at getting rich, he was also motivated by a desire to achieve status within criminal hacking communities,” said Charles Neil Floyd, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington.
Wagenius pleaded guilty in March 2025 to two counts of unlawfully transferring confidential phone records. In July 2025, he pleaded guilty in a separate case to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, extortion in relation to computer fraud and aggravated identity theft.
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