Miss Teen USA 'Sextortion' Suspect Expected to Plead Guilty; Hacked Young Women’s Computer Cameras

Miss Teen USA "Sextortion" suspect is expected to plead guilty.

The Temecula, Calif., man who hacked the computer of Miss Teen USA, Cassidy Wolf, was identified by the FBI as Jared James Abrahams, 19. Authorities believe he was involved in a "sextortion" case involving Wolf.

According to the complaint, the alleged Miss Teen USA "sextorter" forced his victims to strip on webcam. In the plea agreement, Abrahams acknowledged taking over 100 to 150 computers.

Abrahams allegedly admitted his crimes to an FBI special agent after he was confronted. The family of the Miss Teen USA "sextortion" suspect recently apologized to victims.

The alleged Miss Teen USA "sextorter" is expected to plead guilty to charges of extorting nude videos and photos from the recently crowned Miss Teen USA and other women by hacking into their computers. According to court filings yesterday in an Orange County federal court the Miss Teen USA sextortion suspect agreed to plead guilty to illegally accessing women's computers to sextort them. In the filing, Abrahams admits he hacked into more than a dozen women's webcams to capture naked images. He then contacted his victims and blackmailed them into giving him more footage.

The Miss Teen USA sextortion suspect is a college freshman majoring in computer science. According to the affidavit, he acknowledged that hijacked the victims computers by infecting them with malware. He would then watch while he recorded the women changing their clothes. He would then use those photographs against his victims.

Miss Teen USA, Cassidy Wolf, one of his victims, was the first to go public with the accusation. According to reports, the suspect targeted women from their late teens to early 20s in the United States, Canada, Ireland and other locations.

The suspect knew some of his victims personally. In the criminal complaint the victims are identified only by their initials.

CW was the first computer Abrahams hacked that he "knew personally." She was 18 years old.  According to a Sept. 19 affidavit by FBI Special Agent Julie Patton, the sextortion suspect admitted "to getting another victim identified as M.M. #1, to go on Skype and take her clothes off at his direction,"

Abrahams has been under investigation by the FBI since March. Authorities discovered that he was allegedly hacking into computers to search for nude photographs or videos and to operate their Web cameras remotely.

Law enforcement sources say the investigation began after the newly crowned Miss Teen USA alerted authorities to a change in her Facebook password and a sextortion demand.

Miss Teen USA's complaint alleges that Abrahams changed the picture on Wolf's Twitter account to a half-naked image. He sent two naked images that were taken from inside her home by her webcam.

Abrahams contacted the victims through two AOL accounts he had taken over and threatened to disclose the nude images and videos he stole unless the women either sent more nude photos or a nude video to him, or to contact him via Skype and do what he said for five minutes.

Allegedly, Abrahams threatened to ruin CW's "dream of being a model" by turning her into a porn star" if she didn't do as he said.

FBI seized computers and hardware, cellphones and hacking software when agents raided his home in Temecula in June. The FBI found evidence showing he gained unauthorized access to computers in Southern California, Maryland, Ireland, Canada, Russia and Moldova.

According to court records, at least one of the victims is a minor. One of his victims, called "MM#1" in court documents, wrote, "Please remember I'm 17. Have a heart." The girl was from Ireland and complied with his demands for a Skype session.

According to the compliant Abrahams told her "I'll tell you this right now! I do NOT have a heart. However, I do stick to my deals. Also age doesn't mean a thing to me!!!"

This summer, Karen "Gary" Kazayan, from Glendale, Calif., pled guilty for targeting 350 women. He hacked into Facebook, Skype and email accounts and changed passwords, searched emails and looked for revealing images, passwords and information on their friends.

Prosecutors alleged Kazaryan hacked into the Facebook, Skype and email accounts of victims and changed their passwords, locking them out of their own online accounts. He then searched emails and other files for naked or semi-naked pictures of the women, as well as other information, such as passwords and the names of their friends. A Florida man hacked into email account of celebrities like Mila Kunis, Christina Aguilera and Scarlett Johansson and put out photos. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Tags
world news
Miss Teen USA
2013
sextortion
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