14 DAY TRIAL // Ryan J. Vallee, 22, from New Hampshire, pleaded guilty last week to 31 charges of several crimes, among which hacking and attempts to extort victims into sending sexually explicit pictures.
According to investigators, between 2011 and March 2016, Vallee hacked the online accounts of his victims, including emails, Facebook, and Instagram profiles.
Using aliases like Seth Williams and James McRow, Vallee engaged in anonymous communications with his victims, threatening to release data he found, unless victims provided sexually explicit images of them or their friends, in a tactic known as sextortion.
Vallee hacked and defaced social media accounts
According to a signed plea agreement, Vallee said he often took over his victim's social media accounts, locking the owners out. In cases where the victim did not respond to his threats, he defaced the accounts with compromising content.
In a particular case, after getting sexually explicit images from a victim, in order to get more photos, Vallee created a clone Facebook profile for that person and uploaded the previously obtained photos. The hacker then issued friend requests for the victim, her friends, and family members.
Investigators explain Vallee used spoofing and anonymizing text messaging services to contact and extort victims.
Secret Service helped during the investigation
Some of the victims complained to the Belmont Police Department, who called in the US Secret Service to investigate the threats.
Authorities tracked down Vallee and filed initial charges. He was re-arrested on March 16, 2016, and remained behind bars, after authorities filed new charges as the investigation went forward.
Prosecutors indicted him on 13 counts of making interstate threats, one count of computer hacking to steal information, eight counts of computer hacking to extort, eight counts of aggravated identity theft, and one count of cyberstalking. Authorities scheduled Vallee's sentencing hearing for December 1, 2016.