Wisconsin Woman Hacked Facebook Accounts To Recruit For ISIS, Planned Possible Attacks

A Wisconsin woman Monday pleaded guilty to using social media to plot terror attacks on behalf of the Islamic State group.

Waheba Issa Dais, 46, hacked Facebook accounts and used it to recruit people to carry out terror attacks on behalf of ISIS and also provided them with information on how to make explosives. She also plotted attacks with self-proclaimed members of the ISIS, however, she was not linked to any plots by the authorities.

“Dais used hacked Facebook accounts in order to support ISIS. Using these accounts, she pledged her allegiance to ISIS on numerous occasions, communicated with and encouraged other ISIS supporters who described their plans to conduct attacks, disseminated information about explosives and biological weapons, and attempted to recruit new members to ISIS’s cause,” a news release by the United States Department of Justice stated.

“Dais also maintained encrypted social-media channels, where she posted messages encouraging ISIS supporters who could not travel to ISIS-controlled lands to conduct terrorist attacks in their home countries. Through those encrypted channels, she also provided detailed information about explosives, guns, attack planning, and target selection,” the news release added.

During investigation, the FBI found conversations where the accused discussed possible attacks with self-proclaimed members of the ISIS. In one of the conversations, she suggested them to use ricin, a deadly toxin, in a U.S. government building or a reservoir. In another case, she suggested them to target either street festivals or summer celebrations, the FBI said, the Associated Press reported.

She was taken into custody by the FBI in June 2018. During the trial in July, her public defender, John Campion, said Dais’ common-law husband had left her in late 2017 after which she lived “this very circumscribed social existence” and sought “social contacts, seeking perhaps a romantic relationship.”

Prosecutor Gregory Haanstad, however, said she was “driven” to carry out the attacks.

“Ms. Dais has shown not just a disregard for human life but an affirmative and apparently consuming desire to assist in mass killings,” Haanstad said, adding that Dais has a history of depression and bipolar disorder but never took medications.

On Monday, U.S. Attorney Matthew Krueger said Daiz gave out a lot of information which could put people at risk.

“Nobody will ever know what all she could’ve inspired,” Krueger said.

She faces a “maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years, a maximum life term of supervised release, and a maximum fine of $250,000.” Her sentencing was set for September 2019.