An Oswego man recently pleaded guilty in a federal court in Boston to phishing the Snapchat access codes of nearly 600 women in an attempt to hack their Snapchat accounts and steal nude photos, which he kept, sold, or traded on the internet.

Kyle Svara, 27, pleaded guilty on Feb. 4 to aggravated identity theft, wire fraud, computer fraud, conspiracy to commit computer fraud and false statements related to child pornography, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston. Sentencing is set for May 18.

Svara was charged in December 2025. From at least May 2020 to February 2021, Svara used social engineering and other resources to collect victim emails, phone numbers and/or Snapchat usernames, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

He posed as a representative of Snap Inc. and texted more than 4,500 victims requesting their Snapchat access codes, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

When approximately 570 women provided those codes, Svara accessed the Snapchat accounts of at least 59 women without permission and downloaded their nude or semi-nude images, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Once he had the stolen images, Svara sold or traded them on internet forums or in transactions with others who had hired him to hack the Snapchat accounts, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Steve Waithe, a former track and field coach at Northeastern University in Boston, hired and paid Svara to hack the Snapchat accounts of women Waithe coached or with whom he had other relationships, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

In November 2023, Waithe was convicted in federal court in Boston of 12 counts of wire fraud; one count of cyberstalking; one count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and one count of computer fraud, aiding and abetting, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Waithe was sentenced to five years in prison in March 2024.

In addition to the women Waithe and others hired Svara to hack, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Svara also targeted women who resided in or around Plainfield or who were students at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.