College student who hacked Selena Gomez's social media to post Justin Bieber nudes charged with 11 felony counts
A New Jersey college student who hacked into Selena Gomez's Instagram account and posted Justin Bieber's nude photos is now facing 11 felony counts for stealing the performer’s digital property, said, prosecutors. Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Ben Forer of the Cyber Crime Division said Susan Atrach, 21, of Ridgefield Park, N.J., is accused of accessing Selena's Instagram account several times from June 2015 through February 2016. Susan obtained the stored media from Selena's accounts and posted it online, as well as, shared with other people. The accounts were an Apple iCloud account and a Yahoo account which were used by Selena and her assistant.
Sources familiar with the investigation told Los Angeles Times that Susan did not make any money out of sharing the pictures. Susan was able to hack into Selena's accounts and change the password for the same by answering information questions for resetting the password. She used the information available on the Internet about the singer to get her answers to the security questions.
Susan 'is charged with five felony counts of identity theft; five felony counts of accessing and using computer data to commit fraud or to control or obtain money, property or data; and one felony count of accessing and using computer data or taking supporting documentation without permission.'
She is expected to surrender to authorities and appear in the court on or before August 27. If she is found guilty, she could face a maximum sentence of nine years and eight months in state prison. The prosecutor recommends that a bail is set at $250,000. This incident dates back to 2017. After the nudes of Justin were posted on her social media, Selena's Instagram account was swiftly taken down and back up after a couple of minutes with the nude pictures being deleted.
Selena is the most followed person on Instagram with nearly 125 million followers. The image that was uploaded on Selena's account were the ones that were published by tabloids from the 'Baby' singer's Bora Bora vacation in 2015. Selena and Justin had been dating back then but the pictures were uploaded on Selena's account after the two had parted ways. Justin had often spoken about the leaks being an invasion of his privacy.
"My first thing was like…how can they do this? Like, I feel super violated. Like, I feel like I can’t step outside and feel like I can go outside naked. Like, you should feel comfortable in your own space… especially that far away," he said in an interview as reported by Mirror. The singer also commented about his package as he said, "That was shrinkage for me!" While Twitter users had some hilarious things to say about the pictures, Justin has since moved on from that incident.