An Illinois man has been sentenced to more than six years in federal prison for orchestrating a phishing scheme that targeted hundreds of women on Snapchat, allowing him to steal private photos that he later kept, sold or traded online.
According to a statement issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Kyle Svara, 27, of Oswego, Illinois, was sentenced on July 21, 2026, by U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy to 76 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
Svara pleaded guilty in February 2026 to aggravated identity theft, wire fraud, computer fraud, conspiracy to commit computer fraud and making false statements during an investigation involving child sexual abuse material. He had been indicted in December 2025.
Prosecutors said that between May 2020 and February 2021, Svara used social engineering techniques to collect victims’ email addresses, phone numbers and Snapchat usernames. He then used that information to trigger Snapchat security verification codes.
Posing as a representative of Snap Inc. through anonymized phone numbers, Svara sent fraudulent text messages to more than 4,500 victims, requesting their Snapchat access codes. Approximately 570 women shared the codes, enabling him to gain unauthorized access to around 517 Snapchat accounts.
After accessing the accounts, Svara downloaded nude and semi-nude images of the victims. In many cases, he activated two-factor authentication, locking the victims out of their own accounts before stealing the content.
Authorities said Svara then sold or traded the stolen images on internet forums and also accepted payments from individuals seeking to have specific Snapchat accounts hacked. He reportedly advertised his services on online forums, including Reddit, claiming he could “get into girls’ snap accounts” and obtain content “for you or trade.”
The investigation also revealed that Svara repeatedly lied to federal investigators, claiming he had no interest in child sexual abuse material. However, authorities later found that he possessed more than 500 images and over 600 videos depicting child sexual abuse, including material involving children as young as three and four years old.
One of Svara’s co-conspirators was Steve Waithe, a former track and field coach at Northeastern University, who hired and paid Svara to hack the Snapchat accounts of women he coached or knew personally. Waithe was convicted in November 2023 on multiple federal charges, including wire fraud, cyberstalking, conspiracy to commit computer fraud and computer fraud. In March 2024, he was sentenced to five years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
In addition to the victims connected to Waithe, prosecutors said Svara also targeted women from his hometown of Plainfield, Illinois, including neighbors, classmates, friends, family acquaintances and acquaintances of his wife and sister. He also hacked the accounts of a small group of women studying at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.
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