Hitting the Books: How the 'Godfather of Cybercrime' got his start on eBay
I did a quick Google search and found his personal website. I reached out, explained my interest in his story, and waited. By evening, I had an email from [email protected]. I was immediately suspicious, but it was a legit address of Brett Johnson, the man from the article.
Brett was born and raised in Hazard, Kentucky, “one of these areas like the Florida Panhandle and parts of Louisiana, where if you’re not fortunate enough to have a job, you may be involved in some sort of scam, hustle, fraud, whatever you want to call it,” he said. The bidder sent Brett the money order; Brett cashed it and sent her his version of the blue Beanie Baby. The phone rang almost immediately.Brett’s response was swift. “Lady, you ordered a blue elephant. I sent you a blue-ish elephant.”This experience taught Brett two very important lessons about cybercrime:Brett continued to perfect his skills and graduated to selling pirated software.
No one hates being deceived more than someone who deceives for a living. Brett was so frustrated he started ShadowCrew.com, an online forum where people could learn the ins and outs of cybercrime.called it “a one-stop marketplace for identity theft.” The ShadowCrew operated from August 2002 through November 2004, attracting as many as four thousand criminals or aspiring criminals.
When Brett was in class, he showed my students how information ended up on the dark web. “You can find social security numbers, home addresses, driver’s license numbers, credit card numbers on the dark web for $3,” he explained. All the information is there, practically begging to be taken.
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