A man who may have coerced as many as 350 women to strip for him via webcam has been arrested by the FBI on federal computer-hacking charges.
According to federal authorities, Karen "Gary" Kazaryan, 27, of Glendale, Calif., broke into email, Skype and Facebook accounts.
He then searched for and stole risqué private photos and other information and changed users' passwords, a Department of Justice statement said.
The statement also said Kazaryn masqueraded as friends of his victims, pretending to be a woman and persuading them to remove their clothes while connected via Skype video chat.
If a victim refused, Kazaryan would allegedly blackmail her into compliance by threatening to post the stolen risqué images online — a classic example of "sextortion."
Don't make it easy for the next oneThe DOJ press release says Kazaryan "gained unauthorized access to — in other words, hacked into — the victims' accounts."
Given the loose definition of hacking under federal criminal code, this could mean Kazaryan simply guessed or reset their passwords.
That's easy to do when people post personal details on their Facebook pages that are answers to identity-challenge questions such as "What was your mother's maiden name?"
The press release said Kazaryan has been indicted on 15 counts of computer intrusion and 15 counts of aggravated identity theft.
If convicted, he faces up to 105 years in federal prison.
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