Police: Iowa City man posed as Victoria’s Secret rep to receive photos

IOWA CITY - An Iowa City man faces three misdemeanor charges in connection with several online phishing schemes, including one where he pretended to represent a lingerie company to receive photos of women in their underwear, according to criminal complaints.

University of Iowa police say 29-year-old Sean Boies created an online profile through the survey company Qualtrics, using the HawkID and passwords of two students without their permission. The surveys received more than 6,200 responses between December 1, 2013 and May 31, 2014. Those surveys allowed Boies to collect personal information from survey respondents.

On at least two occasions, he published surveys and pretended to represent Victoria's Secret. One survey launched January 9, 2014 asked women to upload photos of themselves in their bra and lingerie and promised selected winners would be invited to a private photo shoot in Miami, according to charging documents. Police say Boies admitted to officers that he received photos from two women and he created the survey to receive pictures of women. The second, published two months later, promised those who responded a $25 gift card in return for personal information. A criminal complaint says Boies admitted he never sent gift cards to survey finishers.

Boies is charged with two counts of Identity Theft less than $1,000, which are aggravated misdemeanors, and Unauthorized Computer Access, a serious misdemeanor.

He was released on his own recognizance at 9:30 Thursday morning, according to online jail records.