Cyber predator locked up for hacking into Snapchat to steal explicit images

A 25-year-old Pennsylvanian man has pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud after he hacked into the Snapchat accounts of women from his former high school.

Reginald Adams, otherwise known as “Reggie Adams,” was sentenced to 22 months imprisonment and three years of supervised release for hacking into various women’s social media accounts and distributing his victim’s sensitive images.

Adams mostly targeted women from his high school and is said to have attacked at least 20 victims.

The crimes took place on the infamous social media site Snapchat, which has been at the center of various controversies for enabling crimes against children through the app's features.

Between 2020 and 2021, Adams exploited his victims by sending phishing messages from anonymous numbers posing as official Snapchat staff.

The women then provided their credentials, mainly security codes, with which Adam could log into their accounts and reset their passwords.

Once he had full access, Adams would find explicit photos in the ‘My Eyes Only’ section, a password-protected feature that allows you to keep certain photos private.

Adams went on to share these explicit images with the victim's contacts, including their family, friends, co-workers, and acquaintances.

This is an act known widely as revenge porn or intimate image abuse, where a perpetrator sends sexually explicit images of their victim without consent, with the purpose of causing embarrassment or distress.

It’s unknown why Adams hacked into these women’s accounts and circulated sexual images without their consent, but from what the United States Attorney’s Office has said about the attacks, the lack of monetary gain, and Adams's relationships with the victims, the motivation was likely to degrade his victims and cause distress.

The cybercriminal would sometimes share these photos on public websites along with the women’s contact information. This could be regarded as doxxing, the act of publishing private information or personally identifiable information (PII) on the internet, usually with malicious intent.

Adams’ victims would receive unsolicited messages from unknown people who had accessed the explicit material.

Furthermore, Adams engaged in what some may call sextortion, where he tricked his victims into sending images under the pretense that they would be paid.

This wasn’t the case, and Adams would use these explicit images to control the victims and force them to send more photos.

It’s clear that Adams has a disdain for women, as highlighted by US Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero.

“It’s truly hard to understand why someone would be this cruel,” said Romero. “What’s crystal clear, though, is that Reginald Adams respects the law as little as he respects women.”

“Again and again, he deliberately targeted, tricked, and took the most personal of photos from his victims, posting them online, violating their privacy, and causing significant emotional distress,” Romero concluded.