A former US official has admitted to stalking women and extracting sexual material from them after hacking into their emails.
Michael Ford, who worked at the US embassy in London, pleaded guilty to nine counts of cyberstalking, seven counts of computer hacking and one count of fraud.
His victims were fraternity members at US universities and aspiring models. Ford used the information he learned after hacking the women to find new victims.
Naked Women
The 36-year-old, from Atlanta, Georgia, posed as a technical support representative from a well-known company and sent messages to thousands of potential victims. Pretending to be a member of a non-existent account deletion group, he told them that their accounts would be closed unless they sent him their passwords.
He then went into email and social media in search of exposed photos and other personal information, such as home and work addresses, occupational information, and details about family members.
He used this information to threaten more sexual material, such as videos of the women undressing in changing rooms, swimming pools and stores. If they refused, Ford responded with escalating threats that included messages like, “Don’t worry, it’s not like I know where you live!” He also posted photos of the women online or sent them to their friends and family.
Between January 2013 and May 2015, while employed at the embassy, he hacked into more than 400 online accounts belonging to at least 200 victims and forwarded at least 1,300 messages to himself from those accounts.
He was arrested in May at Atlanta airport as he was preparing to board a flight to London, was charged in August and initially did not plead guilty until September.
He will be sentenced on February 16, 2016. Cyberstalking and hacking each carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison, while fraud carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Each of the 17 charges carries a fine of up to $250,000 (£165,000).
