The hacker behind celebgate has come face to face with the law, or at least that's what it seems.
It seems that no one can escape the heavy letter of the law. Fappening aka Celebgate created quite a stir in 2014 to the point that there were dedicated threads on the image website 4chan, as well as on Reddit, about Fappening.
A Pennsylvania hacker pleaded guilty on Tuesday, May 24, to illegally hacking into the Apple and Google accounts of several famous women and stealing their private photos, videos and information.
Ryan Collins, 36, was accused of illegally accessing more than 100 online accounts from November 2012 to September 2014. According to the Associated Press, he pleaded guilty in federal court on Tuesday.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Collins used a phishing scheme to obtain his victims' usernames and passwords over a two-year period beginning in November 2012. He would send victims emails that appeared to be from Apple or Google and ask them to provide him with usernames and passwords. When the victims responded, Collins would gain access to their email accounts. After the illegal access, Collins would obtain personal information, including nude photos and videos. In some cases, Collins used a software to download the entire contents of the victims' Apple iCloud backups.
Many of the accounts Collins hacked belonged to famous women, including Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton and Gabrielle Union. Several of the photos were leaked online, but prosecutors said Collins “is not suspected of involvement in the leaking of these images,” according to the AP. The photos first appeared online in September 2014, and the incident later became known as “celebgate” aka “fappening.” The celebrities whose photos were leaked were not identified as a result of a plea agreement reached in March.
Collins is expected to appear in federal court in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for sentencing, according to the Los Angeles Times. The date has not yet been set.
