Kyle Svara, of Illinois, the US, has been sentenced to 76 months in prison and three years of supervised release for hacking hundreds of Snapchat accounts to steal private photos and sell or trade them online.

The man admitted that he used fake identities and phishing methods to trick more than 750 women into giving up their Snapchat login codes. Prosecutors said he targeted more than 4,500 people between May 2020 and February 2021 while pretending to be a representative of the company.

After gaining access, Svara downloaded nude and semi-nude photos from hundreds of accounts and changed security settings to lock victims out. Police also found hundreds of images and videos containing child sexual abuse material on his online storage account.

Svara also carried out paid hacking jobs, including one for former Northeastern University track coach Steve Waithe, who hired him to target students and athletes. Waithe was sentenced in 2024 to five years in prison for cyber fraud, cyberstalking, and sextortion.

Authorities said Svara also hacked accounts of people he knew, including neighbors, friends, classmates, and students at Colby College in Maine. He pleaded guilty in February.

Former accountant sentenced for laundering $5.3M stolen from a children's hospital

A former accountant has been sentenced to four years in US prison for helping launder more than $5.3 million stolen from Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Ronald Deabler, a 66-year-old Atlanta business owner and former Certified Public Accountant, was found guilty by a jury earlier this year.

Prosecutors said the scheme began when a hacker gained access to the email account of a furniture vendor that worked with the hospital. The hacker then pretended to be a vendor employee and convinced Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta to send a payment to what appeared to be a legitimate account. Instead, the $5.3 million was sent to a bank account connected to Deabler.

Officials said Deabler agreed to move the stolen money in exchange for a commission. He opened another bank account to transfer the funds and later turned about $3.5 million into cashier’s checks that were sent to other people and organizations.

The hospital and vendor discovered the fraud within days and contacted the bank, which traced the money back to Deabler’s accounts. Authorities recovered about $4 million of the stolen funds. In addition to the prison sentence, Deabler was also ordered to pay more than $682,000 in restitution.

Council worker given suspended sentence for accessing personal records

A council worker who unlawfully accessed hundreds of private records has been given a suspended prison sentence. Geoffrey Smith, 31, from Ledbury, Herefordshire, the UK, worked for Herefordshire Council in the Children and Young People directorate. An investigation began after concerns were raised about him accessing a referral case without permission.

The investigation found that Smith accessed around 490 records over four days and downloaded 94 documents. The files contained sensitive information, including medical records, social worker reports, and child and family assessments.

Smith admitted an offense under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 for illegally accessing personal data. He was sentenced to two months in prison, suspended for 12 months. He was also ordered to complete 120 hours of unpaid work, pay £2,000 (~€2,334) in costs, and pay a £154 (€180) victim surcharge.

Meanwhile, Australian authorities have charged a registered nurse after the police received a report that a NSW Health employee had illegally accessed and downloaded patient data. Police executed a search warrant at the suspect’s home and confiscated electronic devices allegedly containing patient information. The man was accused of accessing or changing restricted computer data. He was released on bail and is scheduled to appear in court on August 19.

A fraudster sentenced for a $100 million romance scam scheme

Derrick Van Yeboah, also known as ‘Van,’ has been sentenced to 85 months in prison for his role in an international fraud network that stole more than $100 million through romance scams and business email scams (BEC).

Van Yeboah, 41, of Ghana, admitted to helping trick victims into sending money by pretending to be a romantic partner online. Many of the victims were older adults who believed they were in real relationships.

Prosecutors said the fraud group targeted people and businesses across the US. The stolen money was later sent to West Africa. Van Yeboah was personally responsible for stealing more than $10 million, including convincing two women to send about $4.2 million and another victim to send $123,000.

In addition to his prison sentence, Van Yeboah will serve two years of supervised release and must forfeit more than $10.1 million.

In a separate case, another scammer was sentenced to six years in prison for taking part in an email fraud scheme. Chinedu Opute illegally accessed company email accounts, pretended to be trusted vendors, and tricked businesses into sending payments to the wrong accounts. He must also pay a $15,000 fine, more than $1.4 million in restitution, and serve three years of supervised release after his prison sentence.

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Europol removes thousands of URLs linked to 'The Com' extremist network

Europol has flagged more than 4,300 URLs for removal after a multi-week operation targeting online content linked to ‘The Com,’ a decentralized network of violent extremist groups. The operation, called Referral Action Days, ran between June and July 2026 and involved law enforcement agencies from nine European countries.

The goal was to disrupt The Com's online presence, remove extremist content, and support ongoing investigations. Authorities identified material including violent videos, self-harm and suicide content, child sexual abuse material, animal cruelty, footage of violent attacks, and guides promoting crimes such as murder, grooming, improvised explosives, doxing, and swatting.

According to Europol, The Com is a loose network with no single ideology, although some groups promote violent right-wing extremist and accelerationist views. Members recruit victims through social media, messaging apps, and gaming platforms, using grooming and extortion to pressure them into self-harm, violence, and creating child sexual abuse material. The network includes several subgroups involved in terrorism, cybercrime, and the exploitation of minors.

In April 2025, US authorities arrested two alleged leaders of the 764 subgroup, who are accused of running an international child exploitation network and could face life sentences.

More recently, Dutch police apprehended a young man suspected of being a member of 764. The man is currently suspected of aggravated assault involving predominantly minor girls. He also faces allegations of possessing child sexual abuse material. The suspect was a minor at the time the alleged offenses took place, the authorities noted.