An Illinois man has been charged with running a hacking scheme that targeted nearly 600 women on Snapchat, stealing intimate photos and selling them online.

Kyle Svara, 26, from Oswego allegedly tricked victims into handing over security codes by pretending to be a Snapchat employee, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. 

He now faces a string of serious charges, including aggravated identity theft, wire fraud, computer fraud, conspiracy, and making false statements linked to child pornography.

Investigators said Svara first collected victims' emails, phone numbers, and usernames. 

When Snapchat flagged suspicious activity and sent security codes to users, Svara allegedly texted them from an anonymous number, posing as a company representative and asking for the codes.

Around 570 women fell victim to the scam, giving him access to at least 59 accounts, according to prosecutors. He then downloaded nude and semi-nude images and sold or traded them on illicit online forums.

Authorities claim Svara also took requests from other users, including the disgraced Northeastern track coach Steve Waithe, who wanted photos of specific women.

Waithe was sentenced in March 2024 to five years in federal prison after pleading guilty to crimes that targeted dozens of women he personally knew.

A federal judge in Boston imposed the sentence after hearing from victims who described lasting emotional and psychological harm.

Prosecutors had sought a seven-year term, arguing that Waithe created 'a devastating path' by stealing and distributing victims' intimate images through online marketplaces for so-called leaked photos and videos.

Waithe admitted he stole nude and semi-nude images from victims' social media accounts and exchanged them with others online.

Prosecutors said he sometimes posed as women overseeing a fake 'body development' study, falsely claiming it was protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Court records showed that many of the victims were women Waithe knew from childhood, college, and his coaching career.

At the time of the offenses, Waithe coached at Northeastern University, Penn State University, Illinois Institute of Technology, the University of Tennessee, and Concordia University Chicago.

Waithe, who was 30 at the time of sentencing, has been jailed since his arrest in April 2021.

He pleaded guilty in November 2023 to two counts of wire fraud, one count of cyberstalking, one count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud, and one count of computer fraud and aiding and abetting.