Calif man accused of extortion thru hacking

LOS ANGELES — A hacker took over more than 100 computers and used them to extort sexually explicit videos from women and teenage girls by threatening to release their personal data, federal prosecutors charged Tuesday. Luis Mijangos, 31, of Santa Ana, was arrested at his home by FBI agents on a charge of extortion that carries a maximum federal prison sentence of two years, according to a statement from the US. attorney's office. Mijangos made his first court appearance in downtown Los Angeles Tuesday morning where he was released on a $10,000 unsecured appearance bond on condition of home detention with no computers, his attorney Sylvia Torres-Guillen said. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement put a detainer on Mijangos and will take him into custody because he is an illegal alien, US attorney's spokesman Thom Mrozek said. A telephone listing for Mijangos could not be immediately located. The scheme was sophisticated, Mrozek said. Mijangos told FBI agents he was a consultant and studied Java and C++, two computer programming languages. "He did have technical proficiency," Mrozek said. Mrozek said that federal extortion cases are relatively rare but this case is unique because it "doesn't involve demands for money but for demands of sexually explicit videos." Some victims have been identified and most are believed to be in Southern California, but some could be elsewhere in the world, he said. Federal investigators contend that Mijangos found victims on peer-to-peer networks, in which several computer users share files and communication pathways. In some cases he allegedly used the nickname "guicho," which agents found printed on T-shirts at his home. According to an affidavit, Mijangos sent out files disguised as popular songs that contained malicious computer code. The malware infected the victims' computers and was passed to their friends' and relatives' machines in the form of infected instant messages, authorities said. "Once he had control of a computer, Mijangos searched for sexually explicit or intimate images and videos of women, typically young women and girls in various states of undress or engaged in sexual acts with their partners," according to the statement. He also hacked e-mail accounts and, posing as some victims' boyfriends, asked them to make pornographic videos, authorities said. Occasionally, Mijangos was able to remotely turn on some victims' webcams to catch them in "intimate situations," the US attorney's statement said. Prosecutors contend that Mijangos contacted some victims and threatened to distribute their sexually explicit videos to their computer contacts unless they made additional videos for him or if they went to the police. "He preyed upon these young women and girls' unwillingness to have other people know certain things about their lives," Mrozek said. Mijangos infected more than 100 computers that were used by about 230 people, including at least 44 who were minors, the FBI said. The FBI investigation began after police in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale received a victim's complaint. In August 2008, a victim in Washington, known as "K.S." in the affidavit, received an e-mail from Mijangos that contained pornographic pictures of her, the affidavit said. Mijangos allegedly threatened the woman in a later e-mail and demanded she create and send a pornographic video of herself or he would release the pictures and expose her "dark side" to her family. A 17-year-old victim, referred to as "T.Y." in the affidavit, received an instant message from her sister titled "scary" that contained malicious software that could remotely turn on web cameras and microphones, the affidavit said. Even though she did not open the attachment, both she and her sister believe their laptops had been hacked because they noticed their web cameras had been turning on and off without their permission or input. Mijangos acknowledged to FBI agents that he hacked the computers but said he did so at the request of the victims' boyfriends and husbands to determine whether the victims were cheating on them, authorities said. His preliminary hearing is set for July 13 and he is scheduled to be arraigned July 19, where he will plead not guilty, his attorney said. —AP