YouSaid · the spoken record

Brett Johnson

lines on the record: 306
first: 2022-03-27
most recent: 2022-03-27
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“You know, you think about it with Ross. I mean, very bright guy, very bright guy. But think about the amount of cognitive dissonance that the guy's got, that he thinks he's going to change the world by running a drug site. I mean, certainly, I mean, could he have changed the world? Yeah. Could he have done it like that? Probably not.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“They are a completely different breed. They really are. It's not the cash guy. It's low-hanging fruit. The ease of, it's hard to stop committing crime, but it's much easier for a cash-motivated individual to stop than it is that ideology guy. That Silk Road 2 guy, he's still got it. He's not breaking the law. But you can see it's like he wants to. Wants to. So it's.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So he only accepts Bitcoin, and that's, of course, the initial use case of crypto is no one wants to admit it today. But the initial use case is we're going to buy a bunch of pot We need somebody. We need a way to pay for it. So that's what happens. Ross. It's really interesting to me. If you look at motivations of cyber criminals, the motivations are status, cash, ideology. My guys, all cash across the board, all cash. Ross's ideology. He really believed he was going to change the world. He really did. And I've been fortunate. I actually know the guy who ran Silk Road 2 and have talked to the kid, everything else. And I will tell you that those guys who are motivated by ideology.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So along the same time, we get, well, a few years later, we get Satoshi Nakamoto pops up with his ideas for Bitcoin. And then Ross Ulbrick runs with it. Ross Ulbrich decides he's going to start up Silk Road. So initially the people who were using Tor, which later was the Dark Web, people were using Tor were just talking with each other, visiting websites, communicating like that. Someone figured out, hey, man, we could host websites. This thing, and they have a lot of trouble finding the box, so that is the advent of Silk Road all of a sudden. Ross Obrick has this idea that he's going to change the world By becoming the largest drug dealer on the planet. So he opens up the Silk Road and the only payment instrument he allows is Bitcoin. So if those people out there are wondering why Bitcoin is going at what forty four K today?”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Was developed so that operatives could communicate with each other without being identified. That then goes open source. They release it, EFF comes in, starts sponsoring it, everything else like that. The next idea was well, you know, people can get around their country's firewalls, whistleblowers can use it, things like that. Well, someone forgot to mention that the first adoptees of tech, if you can use it to launder money or remain anonymous, are criminals. So criminals start to use the damn thing, all right?”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“As long as you properly know how to use it. Huge cave Right, so developed by the United States Navy, and they developed it. Oh, yeah”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That was the way things were until a couple of things happened. And one was cryptocurrency. The other one was the Tor browser, the dark web. Now I was working with a secret service, ripping the secret service off, when Tor comes into play. So we got a memo in one day, and it was talking about the Tor browser. And it was like, we really need to be careful with this. This is going to be problem. And so we all fired up the Tor browser. And it turns out this was 2000 five, early six. Turns out it was completely unusable. Could not use it at all, simply because no one was using it and it was extremely slow.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You had vouching systems and review systems in place, escrow systems in place. You could do by looking at someone's screen name, if you could trust the individual, network with the individual. And that community. Of just humans provided that backbone of trust. And that's really interesting when you think about it. You had the trust that was there, but you also had this. Almost this instantaneous information that was available about the community or about cybercrime at large. And that's still in play today. So when...”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Let's backtrack a little bit more before we get to this. What Shadow Crew did. Other than dealing in all these stolen wares, what Shadow Crew did, that's really important. Remember those three necessities that I talked about? But the important thing is it established trust among criminals. All right, because that's a necessity. You have to be able to trust who you're dealing with because you have to deal with somebody. You have to. So how do you know you're not dealing with a cop? How do you know you're dealing with somebody that's skilled? How do you know you're going to deal with somebody that's not going to rip you off? You have to be able to trust that individual. The shadow crew provided that trust mechanism for criminals. You had that communication channel, the forums, where you could reference conversations weeks, months old, take part, learn from those conversations.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That online aspect with those communities like that, if you're the head guy, you really feel like you're the parent of these guys So, somebody's starting to threaten them. It's like, all right, what do I need to do?”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And you figure, you take somebody like Ross Ulbrich, the Silk Road guy, all right? Ross was not a violent guy. He was not. But at that point in time, he was sitting on 24 million in Bitcoin. He was the only game in town. And that 24 now is like, I don't know, $24 billion, some crap like that. But Felt in danger This guy was going to turn him in. You know, it was a black mountain and everything. So Ross thinks he hires a couple hit men to kill the guy. So it becomes that thing. And I saw that over and over again. And I'd like to say I wasn't like that, but given the same circumstances, I would have probably done the same thing.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Anda I say that as a joke, but there's that line. Where you're like, I remember who I used to be. And if you're looking at that kind of money. I might be persuaded to do that back then. You know, that's and I think that was Scripp's issue is it was a lot of money to him.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I got to tell you, I joke with my wife. The joke I give I tell my wife is if I knew some guy that had 8,000 Bitcoins, I might be persuaded to ask him for access to that. And she was like, how? And I was like, well, hammer and toes.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The first response is can't be real. He's just that's just doing that. He's wanting to send a message. Then you're like, no. No, that's real. That's real.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“This is what happens when you steal from me. And that's the first time that violence came into play at that point. That's when things got, you start realizing things are getting a little serious.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Decent amount of money. Somebody doesn't pay them. Now, we had never, with Shadow Crew, with Carter Planet, with Counterfeit Library, we were basically the geeks. All right. We were just the fraudsters, the social engineers. We had never really considered violence. The rules that I had in play were, hey, we don't do child pornography. We don't do counterfeit currency. We don't do drugs. And the only thing we ended up really obeying was the child porn stuff, except for Max Butler, who you mentioned earlier. Script, someone rips the guy off. And he comes online on Shadow Crew at that point. And he posts these pictures one day. And I mean, it was a detailed narrative through the pictures had the guy that rammed in the van, had the door open rammed in the van, had the guy tied up, had the guy being tortured, and the response was...”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Turns darker when the more money you make. Script was a kid that he was stealing enough money that he was able to buy whatever estate he wanted to. And he would brag about touring the countryside. And if he saw property that he liked, he would buy it. And that was not just a brag. He was doing that. So this kid is stealing a lot of money. At the same time, he's got connections politically because of his family. He's got connections and that family's got connections with a Ukrainian mob. All right. So he's got these inroads and people are looking out for him and he's stealing a lot of money at the same time. Somebody doesn't pay him.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And to give you an idea, I was arrested February 8th, 2005. My last seizure was twenty ten. Got the last seizure notice. So they got it, but it took them that long to get to it.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Fortunately, what you also had is you had a bunch of prepaid debit cards that were coming into play at the same time, so a combination of bank accounts, prepaid debits that had ACH abilities attach those as well, and you start running them all together, then once it's out of the United States, you don't have to worry as much. You can start funneling that into fewer bank accounts until finally you've got the one main account that's over at Bank Latico in Estonia at that point. Is what you've got.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Right. So you do the Ozark thing if you want to do that so you can gamble Cash out some like that also or trips to whatever casinos you've got. You've got your production company or your detail company. So how many cars are you cleaning today? How many companies have you got to do that? Whatever that company is, it's got to be cash-based. Somebody's paying you in cash is what you're doing. You have to have enough of those cash-based businesses where it doesn't look funny. All right. Because if you're a detail company making $100,000 a month, that's a problem. Then you start depositing into that. Well, because of the Patriot Act, a suspicious activity report, SARS came in at $2,500 instead of the $10K that it used to be. So all of a sudden, you've got multiple bank accounts that you've got to set up. All right.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You know, it's not that much different. It's really not. You get a cash based business, start laundering the money or putting the money through that, saying the transactions are legal. You then start depositing into bank accounts. From bank accounts, my thing was, is Bank accounts in the United States, Mexico, Canada, and then finally bounce over to Estonia, was the final destination of all this stuff. And the idea is to try to move them to so many places that by the end of the day it looks legal and you can't trace it all if you're ever caught, which you ultimately are. But so cash-based businesses, you know, when you...”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The fact, you know, this is great. So, what happens is, I didn't know how to launder money. All right, so I'm throwing cash in. In the spare bedroom, one day opened up the bedroom and you're like, got to do something with those backpacks. And that's when you start learning how to launder money. You know, cash-based businesses, things like that. I had a production company, had a couple of detailing company. I was thinking about going to food trucks. Things like that, Charles”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Want to return every six minutes? That's changing IP. That's changing address, everything else want to return every six minutes. For three days a week, fourth day, I would take a road trip, plot out a map of ATMs. And then the next two days cash out, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. All right. Come back home, rinse and repeat. Turns out that a backpack, I don't see any sitting around here, but a backpack will hold $150,000 of 20s is what it will hold. So I'd put $150K in 20s in a backpack. I had a spare bedroom. I'd come in, toss the backpack in the bedroom.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So you find a business And the way the system worked is the IRS will issue a refund on somebody before they're able to verify that that person worked for an employer. Still worse like that today. All right.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“A lot of people don't because that death benefits only like $219 Nobody's thinking about that shit. So I started to apply for Social Security benefits. Nope. Numbers dormant. So they want you to come in for a physical interview. Here I am, you know, 32. You're not going to pass as a 65-year-old, so no. So the next idea I had was. Wonder if you could file income tax returns on these people? Turns out you can. All day long, so I started doing that, and I started to steal. At once I got ramped up because you test everything. You know, you're testing to make sure I got to figure out what the deposit instrument is and everything else. And once you get all that lined out, I started to steal $160,000 a week every week for 10 months out of the year.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Right. Prior to 98, it took After ninety eight, the hospital can do it, funeral home can do it, or the family can do it. So a lot more people have it filed after if they've died.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Complete information Mother's maiden, socials, DOBs, all that. And it's like, gotta be a use for that. Well, you can use it to create identities all day long. My idea was I wonder if you could take somebody that's died and then file for Social Security death benefit, not death benefits, but social security benefits for that individual and get that recurring paycheck in. So that takes a lot of research to start seeing if you can do that. How does the federal government know if you're dead? Do federal indexes reference state indexes? You've got all these questions that pop up. Well, it turns out federal indexes don't reference state indexes against the law. It also turns out the only way the federal government knows you're dead is prior to 1998, the family had to file a Social Security death benefit for that person. All right?”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Not only did he do that, but it turned out that the Los Angeles Secret Service Agency was using T-Mobile phones. So he's getting text messages of the Secret Service investigating Shadow Crew, and he posts those damn things on Shadow Crew. So I'm sitting there going head of the pile. I'm sitting there going, this is not going to end well. This is not going to end well. So at the same time, I had access. started out with access to the Indiana State Sex Offenders Registry and I was using that to create bank accounts, launched money out and I would sell the bank accounts and stuff like that. Shut that down. The next database I had access to was the Texas driver's license database and started using that to create fake driver's licenses, what have you. And then finally we happened upon the California Death Index.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Started stealing a lot of money, a lot. And that got law enforcement attention. So we started to see, I mean, it's a crazy ass story. We started to see IPs coming in from law enforcement agencies, government agencies, because back then they didn't know how to shield their identity either. So you saw Secret Service, you saw DOD, you saw all these like, you're like, that's interesting. And at the same time, We had, it was called a hack, but it wasn't a hack. We had a guy that worked at T Mobile in Los Angeles. This is the same guy that back then published Paris Hilton's phone contact list that made a lot of news”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You had all these cashiers that were 40% of $40,000 a day. Yeah, we'll take that. All right, send the rest of it over to buy Western Union or what have you to your Ukrainian contact. That's before cryptocurrency came into play. Now you had a couple of forerunners with eGold and Liberty Reserve, things like that. But back then, it starts out with Western Union, then it becomes prepaid cards sending track information over, loading the card up like that, and then finally you get to egold, Liberty Reserve, and today it's with crypto. That's used”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Card not present fraud. Remember, I told you was $30,000 to $40,000 a month. That turned into $30 to $40,000 a day. The Ukrainians, again, they can't cash it out. Got all the data on the planet, but they can't cash it out. Those three necessities of cybercrime. So the deal became you have to rely on the Americans. Tell you what, we'll give you 40%.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You need the 16 digit card number, forward slash, and then whatever that algorithm is out beside of it. All right. Back then, none of the banks had implemented that algorithm. So while the algorithm was there, you didn't need it to encode.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So back then, all right, it's back then what we're talking about is you need to typically today you need a whole track two. You need that valid track two.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Gotta know it. Now, we were fishing data from hell. I mean, we were doing a lot of fishing, a lot. We were getting pins. We were getting card numbers, but you can't get that algorithm. So the Ukrainians start testing stuff. What they found out was no bank had implemented the hash on track two. So you take the card number forward slash any sixteen digits, it would encode. Take it to the ATM, pull cash out,'cause you got the pin, all right? Started doing that.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's one of the big problems, all So Script brought a host of technical people into that type of environment, all committing credit card theft. We had proxy providers. We had all these people that were doing this stuff. Start making a lot of money, a lot. And the reason that happens is again, script did not have the ability to cash out. So he was reduced to selling things. And at the same time, he's looking for how do I make more money. All right. The Ukrainians happened upon This thing called the CVV1 breach, or hack is what they call it. So what happens is, remember I told you track two, card number forward slash sixteen digit algorithm. You got to know the algorithm to encode it so you can swipe the card or take it to the ATM machine. All right, ATM.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Third data track is called indiscriminate data. No one uses it. So what's bought and sold is the second data track. It's called the dump. And the reason that's sold is when you go into a shop, you insert the card or you swipe the card. The only information that's sent out for verification is the second data track. That goes to the processor bank for verification. The first data track that customers name shows up on the screen of the cashier in front of you. So what typically happens is you buy 10 of these dumps, you get 10 counterfeit cards. In CodeTrack 2 on all 10 cards, track one, you create one fake driver's license. Track one is just the name of that one fake driver's license. That way when you go in the shop, swipe the card, track two gets sent off a verification. Track one shows up on the screen in front of the cashier. If you ever ask for ID, you pull out the fake ID. Everyone's in a nice warm, fuzzy, you walk out with cameras, Rolex.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Crazy. So, you know, on your back, so what Boa initially had, and I became the United States salesperson for Boa. But what he had was is he was the first dumps provider in the United States. So on the back of your creditor debit card, there's a magnetic stripe. Three data tracks on the stripe. There was the first data track is a customer's name. Second data track is the card number, forward slash 16 digit algorithm outside of that. That's important. We'll get back to that in a few minutes.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I post that review on counterfeit library and literally overnight we turn from an eBay, PayPal fraud site to a credit theft site. And that becomes a lot of money really quickly for members. So we were doing, now it's called CMP fraud, card not present fraud. So you hit an online merchant with stolen credit card data. Back then a fairly experienced fraudster could profit $30,000 to $40,000 a month. Just buying laptops, what have you and cashing out, you know, put them on eBay for sale and sell them like that. 30 to $40K a month was the profit on that. Script had a lot of buddies. He had people like Roman Vega, these other guys that would sell not just credit card data, but counterfeit physical credit cards as well. We had Andrew.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Five business days, and I try to hit Dell for $5,000. The order fails. I get back on ICQ. Hey man, it didn't work. He's like, give me one more chance. I was like, look, I'll give you one more chance, but it's your ass after that. And he's like, one more chance. I'm like, okay, give him another address, another phone number, wait another five business days. Hit Thompson's computer warehouse for four thousand dollars, Dell for five thousand dollars. Order goes through, get the products in.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“People think he's law enforcement. First week it goes like that. After a while, I'm like, okay, I got to do something. And I'm scared, man, because I'm like, he may be law enforcement. So I get him on ICQ and I'm like, hey, you have to be reviewed. And he's like, what the hell is that? So I tell him what it is. He's like, you review me. I was like, yeah, that's the idea. So give him a drop address, give him a burner phone number.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So over the next year, Beelzebub turns out he was a pot grower. He goes back to growing pot because he wasn't making shit selling driver's licenses. Mr. X, about a year and a half in, he gets arrested, cashing out credit card, not credit cards, cashing out at casinos, doing some shit with that. So I'm the only guy left standing, and I'm at the top of the heap. And it becomes this thing where if I review somebody, they make a lot of money. If I don't, You don't do business here. So script shows up saying he's got this. I'm the only reviewer on site”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Mr. X wanted to sell Social Security cards. He made a very passable Social Security card. Me, I had no skill level on that. I knew PayPal fraud and eBay fraud. So Beelzebub was like, tell you what, you be the reviewer. That way you get every product or service that comes in. They'll have to send it to you or let you have access to it. You can learn the entire game. And because you're not selling anything, it gives you legitimacy on the reviews. All right? So I start out as a reviewer, the only reviewer on counterfeit library.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Me an address, give me a burner phone number, wait five business days, order whatever you want to. We had never seen anything like that. We were a PayPal fraud and eBay fraud site is what we were, and fake driver's licenses. So, and we had, I guess we had two, 3,000 members at that point. So the response from the members was... Can't be real. You've got to be law enforcement, it's got to be trying to get us arrested and everything else. Let me backtrack a little bit. The driver's license that I had got, Beelzebub had an idea what he wanted to do is he wanted to sell driver's licenses.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Dimitri had all the credit data in the world, and he partnered with all these other Ukrainians that had all this data as well. The problem was that so much fraud had been committed on that eastern side of Europe that every card had been shut down, even if you were a legitimate card holder and tried to cash it out, you weren't doing it at that point. So again, those three necessities, gathering data committing crime, cashing out. Dimitri had the data. They could commit the crime. They could not put cash in pocket. So we were running counterfeit library. One day I get this message, or not a message, one day script shows up. And he posts, just on the general forum. He posts, hey, I've got credit card data.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So he picks up the phone, he calls his buddies, they call their buddies, they have a physical conference in Odessa, one hundred and fifty of these cyber criminals show up, and they launch this idea, launches a website called Carter Planet, which is the genesis of all modern credit card theft as we know it. I mentioned those three necessities of cybercrime.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Because of a skill level, sometimes a geographic location limits what that individual can do. So you have to rely on people who are good in areas where you are not in order for that crime to succeed. And that means you have to trust those people. So what happens with shadow crew, all right? So counterfeit library is the start, all right? Counterfeit library transitions over to Shadow Crew. Right before that transition, there's a Ukrainian guy by the name of Dmitry Golobov, he was a spammer at that point in time. He saw what we were doing with counterfeit library, and he liked it. He was getting all these credit card details, and this kid, I mean, he's a kid. This kid has an idea. And his idea was, I wonder if people would buy stolen credit card details.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You know, I'm sure you've probably heard me say this before. Successful cybercrime. All right, there are three necessities to being successful online if you're a criminal. Three necessities are gathering data, committing the crime, and then cashing it out. All three of those necessities have to work in conjunction if they don't the crime fails. The problem, and it's a huge problem, is that one guy can't do all three things. You know, you've got the people who gather the data. Basically, the general store sells people who sell PII, credit card logins, data tools. They always sell the spoofed phone numbers or the RDPs, stuff like that. A lot of the times those people don't know how to commit the crime. And those people certainly don't know how to launder the money out and put cash in pocket. So you've got...”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I tell him, I'm like, okay, I'm going to send you $200. That way, when you rip me off, I'll have them ban you, and I don't have to deal with you anymore. And he's like, bet. I'm like, okay. So I sent them $200, sent them my picture Weeks later, I get a driver's license named Steven Schwecky out of Ohio, and real guy worked at ADP payroll to this day, works at ADP is where the guy works. Got the driver's license, and to me, at that point in time, it was the prettiest thing that I'd ever seen. I'd never seen a fake ID before. I thought it was great. Turns out, you know, looking back, it was like,”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Be Elzebub gets me on ICQ and he sends me a message. He's like, I went by the screen name of Gollum at that point. Golem Fun. And he's like, Gollum, I can make you a fake driver's license. And I was like, well, motherfucker, do it. And he's like, well, I'm going to charge you for it. I'm like, yeah, you are. He's like, I am. I was like, no, you're not. And he's like, look, man, he said, this business, if you're going to do this, you have to trust people or you're going to fail. He said, so I want to charge you two hundred dollars, but I'm going to send you a driver's license. Well, by this point, I'm friends with a people who own counterfeit library. We're emailing chat and everything else.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I kept looking around and I happened upon a website called counterfeit library. And counterfeit library only dealt with counterfeit degrees and certificates degree meal type stuff. But they had a forum and no one was using the forum. So I basically get on there and bitch every day. I got ripped off, don't know what to do, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. About the same time I start doing that, two other guys show up. One's named Mr. X. He's out of Los Angeles. Other guys named Beelzebub. He's out of Moose Jaws, Saskatchewan. And we all become buddies. So, you know, a few weeks of me bitching, a few weeks of them responding.”
2022-03-27 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source