The malware Mijangos wrote was sophisticated, and he told federal authorities that he designed it specifically to be undetectable to antivirus programs. In some cases, he tricked victims into creating pornographic images and videos by assuming the online identity of the victims’ boyfriends. 14 He then, according to court documents, “used intimate images or videos of female victims he stole or captured to ‘sextort’ those victims, threatening to post those images or videos on the Internet unless the victims provided more.” 15 In at least one case, he posted nude photos of a victim on the Myspace account of a friend of the victim, which Mijangos had also hacked, after she refused to comply with his demands. To make matters worse, Mijangos also used the computers he controlled to spread his malware further, propagating to the people in his victims’ address books instant messages that appeared to come from friends and thereby inducing new victims to download his malware. In all, federal investigators found more than 15,000 webcam-video captures, 900 audio recordings, and 13,000 screen captures on his computers. 18 Mijangos possessed files associated with 129 computers and roughly 230 people. 19 Of those, 44 of his victims were determined to be minors. 20 His scheme reached as far away as New Zealand. The videos he surreptitiously recorded showed victims in various states of undress, getting out of the shower, and having sex with partners.
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