High Point man sentenced in Snapchat hack
Mar. 15—HIGH POINT — A High Point man has been sentenced to 13 months in prison after being convicted of hacking a social media account of an active-duty Army soldier, stealing and selling her nude photos from the account and scamming her friends.
Patrick Marquez Black, 30, pleaded guilty in October in U.S. District Court in New Bern to two counts of computer fraud and abuse and one count of wire fraud.
According to court documents and other information presented in court, Black hacked into the Snapchat account of a woman stationed at Fort Bragg and changed the password to lock her out of the account. Black then pretended to be her and asked her Snapchat friends send money to CashApp and other online money accounts to cover the costs of an emergency Black invented. As a result, she was threatened by people who believed that they had loaned her money that she had not repaid, and she paid over $300 to her friends.
Black also shared and sold nude images and videos of the woman that he was able to access from the Snapchat account, and they were seen by co-workers, friends and family members.
He also used her account to obtain the usernames and passwords of other Snapchat accounts as well as nude images and videos of other people.
This activity occurred for at least three years, according to U.S. Attorney Michael Easley's office.
"We are targeting hackers and cybercriminals who invade privacy for cash," Easley said. "Our cyber-prosecutors are partnering with law enforcement to ensure that the world wide web does not become the wild, wild west."
