FBI suspects more victims in Penn Hills man's alleged 'sextortion' scheme

Federal authorities said Wednesday they believe there are more victims of a Penn Hills man accused last month of extorting minors into providing explicit photos and videos.

Kaung Myat Kyaw, 22, was arrested in November and charged federally with enticing a minor to provide sexually explicit content. He was ordered last week by a federal judge to remain in jail pending trial, and a grand jury this week returned a four-count indictment on the same charges.

Authorities said they are looking to speak with anyone who might have been targeted by Myat Kyaw in an extortion scheme that he called the “7 Day Challenge” or who had contact online with anyone using the usernames “savnxh,” “jokerxkris,” “krxs.com” or some variation of those names. Authorities said those were not the only usernames Myat Kyaw used to contact victims.

“We would anticipate that that number would grow as we get more input from victims both here in Pittsburgh and around the country. We anticipate this is nationwide,” said Joe Rothrock, assistant special agent in charge at the FBI’s Pittsburgh office.

He said authorities so far have identified victims in Western Pennsylvania as well as in Phoenix, Buffalo and Fairfax, Va. Incidents date back to at least September 2020, he said.

The extortions often took one of two forms, Rothrock said.

Myat Kyaw sometimes posed as tech support for Snapchat and gained access to a victim’s private photos saved to Snapchat, authorities said. From there, authorities said he would save any explicit or private photos. In other instances, he posed in forums or on social media as a bisexual teenage girl to gain the trust of victims and coerce explicit photos, authorities said.

After Myat Kyaw had the photos, he would use a separate account to initiate what he called the “7 Day Challenge,” demanding that a victim produce a series of increasingly demeaning sexual images and videos over the next seven days or else he would send the nude photos to family and friends.

“These types of investigations often involve a level of shame or guilt with the victim that prevents them from reporting this to law enforcement or some other trusted adult,” Rothrock said. “What we want to do is try to overcome that and not only try to help hold those individuals accountable, but help get resources to those victims.”

The type of trauma incurred from such exploitation can last for years, he said.

The FBI has set up a website and questionnaire specific to this case where potential victims or an adult in their life can provide information about any contact they think they might have had with Myat Kyaw. The website is fbi.gov/7dc.

The initial charges filed last month against Myat Kyaw alluded to an unidentified co-conspirator. Rothrock said that piece of the investigation is ongoing.

“We know that these types of individuals do work in groups,” he said. “They share methods that are successful and they also share material they’ve acquired.”