Two men are to go before the US federal court after being charged with the unauthorized takeover of social media accounts belonging to American football and basketball stars.
Trevontae Washington and Ronnie Magrehbi have each been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and abuse in two separate criminal complaints.
Both men are accused of illegally accessing social media and other personal online accounts belonging to professional and semi-professional athletes, including athletes employed by the National Football League (NFL) and the National Basketball Association (NBA), between December 2017 and April 2019.
Court documents allege that 21-year-old Washington, of Thibodaux, Louisiana, used a phishing attack to obtain the login credentials of his victims.
The Department of Justice said that using platforms like Instagram, Washington sent the sporting professionals messages “with embedded links to what appeared to be legitimate social media log-in sites, but which, in fact, were used to steal the athletes’ usernames and passwords.”
Once the athletes entered their credentials, Washington and others allegedly locked the players out of their accounts and used them to gain access to other accounts. Washington then allegedly sold access to the compromised accounts for amounts ranging from $500 to $1,000.
One victim was tricked into entering his details into what he thought was an authentic Facebook page. He then lost access to his Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and Yahoo accounts.
While Washington is accused of successfully targeting two professional football players and a professional basketball player, 20-year-old Magrehbi is alleged to have obtained access to accounts belonging to one professional football player, including an Instagram account and personal email account.
Magrehbi, of Orlando, Florida, allegedly extorted the player, demanding payment in return for restoring access to the accounts. The victimized player sent funds to their attacker on at least one occasion, portions of which were transferred to a personal bank account controlled by Magrehbi.
Despite having paid their attacker, the player was not given back access to their own online accounts.
If found guilty on both counts, each defendant could face up to 25 years in prison and a maximum fine of $500,000.
Two men are to go before the US federal court after being charged with the unauthorized takeover of social media accounts belonging to stars of American football and basketball.
Trevontae Washington and Ronnie Magrehbi have each been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and abuse in two separate criminal complaints.
Both men are accused of illegally accessing social media and other personal online accounts belonging to professional and semi-professional athletes, including athletes employed by the National Football League (NFL) and the National Basketball Association (NBA), between December 2017 and April 2019.
Court documents allege that 21-year-old Washington, of Thibodaux, Louisiana, used a phishing attack to obtain the login credentials of his victims.
The Department of Justice said that using platforms like Instagram, Washington sent the sporting professionals messages “with embedded links to what appeared to be legitimate social media log-in sites, but which, in fact, were used to steal the athletes’ usernames and passwords”.
Once the athletes entered their credentials, Washington and others allegedly locked the players out of their accounts and used them to gain access to other accounts. Washington then allegedly sold access to the compromised accounts for amounts ranging from $500 to $1,000.
One victim was tricked into entering his details into what he thought was an authentic Facebook page. He then lost access to his Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat and Yahoo accounts.
While Washington is accused of successfully targeting two professional football players and a professional basketball player, 20-year-old Magrehbi is alleged to have obtained access to accounts belonging to one professional football player, including an Instagram account and personal email account.
Magrehbi, of Orlando Florida allegedly extorted the player, demanding payment in return for restoring access to the accounts. The victimized player sent funds to their attacker on at least one occasion, portions of which were transferred to a personal bank account controlled by Magrehbi.
Despite having paid their attacker, the player was not given back access to their own online accounts.
If found guilty on both counts, each defendant could face up to 25 years in prison and a maximum fine of $500,000.
Two men are to go before the US federal court after being charged with the unauthorized takeover of social media accounts belonging to stars of American football and basketball.
Trevontae Washington and Ronnie Magrehbi have each been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and abuse in two separate criminal complaints.
Both men are accused of illegally accessing social media and other personal online accounts belonging to professional and semi-professional athletes, including athletes employed by the National Football League (NFL) and the National Basketball Association (NBA), between December 2017 and April 2019.
Court documents allege that 21-year-old Washington, of Thibodaux, Louisiana, used a phishing attack to obtain the login credentials of his victims.
The Department of Justice said that using platforms like Instagram, Washington sent the sporting professionals messages “with embedded links to what appeared to be legitimate social media log-in sites, but which, in fact, were used to steal the athletes’ usernames and passwords”.
Once the athletes entered their credentials, Washington and others allegedly locked the players out of their accounts and used them to gain access to other accounts. Washington then allegedly sold access to the compromised accounts for amounts ranging from $500 to $1,000.
One victim was tricked into entering his details into what he thought was an authentic Facebook page. He then lost access to his Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat and Yahoo accounts.
While Washington is accused of successfully targeting two professional football players and a professional basketball player, 20-year-old Magrehbi is alleged to have obtained access to accounts belonging to one professional football player, including an Instagram account and personal email account.
Magrehbi, of Orlando Florida allegedly extorted the player, demanding payment in return for restoring access to the accounts. The victimized player sent funds to their attacker on at least one occasion, portions of which were transferred to a personal bank account controlled by Magrehbi.
Despite having paid their attacker, the player was not given back access to their own online accounts.
If found guilty on both counts, each defendant could face up to 25 years in prison and a maximum fine of $500,000.
