Alleged hacker accused of threatening women, girls
A Temecula man who allegedly hacked into email, socialnetworking and other Internet accounts belonging to women and girls –including Miss Teen USA — and threatened to distribute nude photos of thevictims unless they complied with his demands was arrested today.
Jared James Abrahams, 19, surrendered to FBI agents in Orange followingthe unsealing of a federal criminal complaint charging him with extortion.
Abrahams was slated to make his initial court appearance this afternoonat the federal courthouse in Santa Ana.
According to the FBI, the case involves multiple victims, some of themminors, throughout Southern California and Maryland, as well as Canada, Moldovaand Russia.
The highest profile victim in the so-called “sextortion” investigationis Cassidy Wolf, an Orange County resident who won the Miss Teen USA pageantin August.
Wolf, identified as C.W. in court papers, contacted federalinvestigators in March after receiving a threatening email containingunauthorized nude photos of her.
The sender told the 18-year-old that if she didn’t either send him apersonal video of herself, join him on Skype for a video chat for five minutesduring which he would tell her what to do, or send him “good quality pics” ofherself, he would spread nude pics of her that he’d obtained and spread them“all over the Internet,” according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed byFBI Agent Julie Patton.
“Either you do one of the things listed or I upload these pics … onall your accounts for everybody to see, and your dream of being a model will betransformed into a pornstar,” the sender said.
According to Patton, C.W.’s laptop webcam had been hacked and photos ofher in various states of undress had been snapped by the hacker. The victim’sFacebook and email accounts were compromised as well, according to the FBI.
An online profile photo of the victim was supplanted — without herknowledge — to one showing her half-naked, Patton said.
According to the criminal complaint, Abrahams contacted women he did anddidn’t know personally. The defendant allegedly used malicious software, ormalware, to access the victims’ webcams and operate them remotely.
In one case, Abarhams allegedly hacked accounts possessed by a 17-year-old girl, apparently residing in Ireland. After sending the youth anextortionate email similar to the one allegedly sent to Wolf, the teenageragreed to comply with his demand to meet him via Skype and do whatever herequested, court papers state.
An April 11 message from the victim reads, “Please remember, I’m only17. Have a heart.” Abrahams allegedly wrote back, “I’ll tell you this rightnow … I do not have a heart!! … Also age doesn’t mean a thing to me!!!”
Using “trap and trace” devices that backtracked to Internet Protocoladdresses and virtual private networks allegedly utilized by the defendant –who used the online handle “cutefuzzypuppy” — in contacting the victims,investigators were able to identify him, according to court papers.
Search warrants were served at his Temecula residence in June, duringwhich his computers and other evidence were seized.
The investigation revealed that at one time, Abrahams had as many as 100-150 “slave computers,” or those that he had allegedly hacked into andcontrolled remotely.
Investigators believe more victims have yet to be identified.
