If I have learned anything in the last two decades, crime does indeed pay, the risk is absolutely worth the reward, and there is almost no long-term reputational damage from dedicating yourself to this sort of life.
He is going to land on his feet and live a life better than most of us too scared to break the rules.
The folks who stole millions online doing crypto shenanigans or whatever and whom you have not heard of, they won. But not this guy.
Getting to the level of a well-adjusted 30-yo is much harder if you're spending that time behind bars.
Most criminal hackers would probably be in a rather low-security prison situation however, with some access to books and learning opportunities, maybe even work release etc.
After prison people think of you as a convict, regardless of age. That doesn't generally make life easier.
Noah might come out ahead financially, sure. But it looks like he might have snitched on people for a lesser sentence, and we all know that snitches get stiches.
What I'm confused about is why Noah just didn't stop while he was ahead. Looks like he was a millionare years ago and had plenty of chances to stop
His family will probably be there for him, but his friends, likely criminal associates, will disband either because he is caught or they are.
The "crypto queen" who rug-pulled and has $billions, nobody hears from: I find it more likely there's a simple reason why, and it isn't "she spent big to hide herself really, really well"
I’ve literally never heard of such a thing. I have trouble believing this is actually true, especially given there’s no way to select for it on the exchanges.
She works in Australia. Maybe things are different in other jurisdictions.
To solve this use actually useful currency that is private and fungible by design like monero.
Imagine you could get a dollar bill* which value could evaporate and even put you in criminal trouble because X amount of unrelated money transfers before it got to you it was used in something criminal.
*dollar bills are also not fully fungible because IDs and currency tracking but those aren't implemented everywhere unlike with btc.
Fungibility: gold = monero >>> dollar bill >> bitcoin and most other transparent coins
That’s not to say that it is good or desireable, but…
I don't know why, but we all have a much stronger moral compass when it comes to the real world than to the internet. It's not just cybercrime, the standards of civility are completely different too.
It’s like that commercial building having a few tanks of gasoline standing right next to the valuable merchandise.
Like having a few thousand tons of ammonia nitrate stored in your dockside warehouse next to fireworks, then making surprised potato face when it explodes.
trwhite•4mo ago
observationist•4mo ago
>>> The following evening, Noah rang from jail. He said he wished he hadn’t hurt his family, or his victims, but he seemed hopeful that the friendships he made would endure. “I’m not saying what I did was a good thing, it’s a horrible community, and what I did was bad,” Noah said. “But I loved my life. I like who I am. I’m glad I was able to live life as I lived it.”
shkkmo•4mo ago
observationist•4mo ago
This kid was not a silver tongued charismatic con man able to dupe and swindle victims, he was taking advantage of ignorance, incompetence, and bad management. his criminal skill consisted of being able to repeatedly and shamelessly call people and repeat a plausible script. High school drama club skills - not "hacked the school server to give everyone 4.1 GPA" skills.
I can grab a clipboard and safety vest and get almost anywhere in the world, even sounding awkward and not particularly smooth, because people expect IT and technician types to show up and be given access to nearly anywhere. "Hi, I'm from IT, I need to get to the phone line/computer in back/ network cable for the display" - people are gullible and ignorant, and the "hackers" that figure out that fact get away with outrageous things based on that alone.
They farmed out these low level social engineering tasks to dozens or even hundreds of participants whose only "skill" was to learn that "one little trick" which broke the security model of all those corporations and departments. That's how law enforcement swept this guy up, because he was not technically proficient or particularly good at what he was doing, from a security standpoint.
10 years of prison is definitely going to mature this person - all I'm saying is that I wish the best for him, because ultimately, that's what best for all of us. I hope he finds a purpose and meaning in life that obliterates the superficial exploitation of people that landed him in prison, and makes the world a better place for his family and community when he gets out. If he can still think of himself as wanting to be a good person, to be better than he was, then I think there's probably hope.
If he was completely unrepentant and unwilling to be accountable, it'd be different - No credit at all to him, I'm just hoping for the best and recognizing that possibility seems to still exist for him.
shkkmo•4mo ago
I'm not assuming the worst...that would be assuming he intends to find a way to continue managing an online gang from jail...
> the superficial exploitation of people
It wasn't superficial. He had a huge negative impact on a lot of everyday people and profited from it enormously.
> I'm just hoping for the best and recognizing that possibility seems to still exist for him.
I also hope he turns his life around and do believe there is a chance, but statements like the one quoted don't give me much hope. He pays lip service to saying what ge did was wrong and calls the community horrible, but he still wants to be friends with all the people with whom he became friends by engaging in criminal conspiracy with them.
The judge decided to throw the book at him and I think the judge was probably right. Maybe the extra years will give him time to understand the damage he caused.
trwhite•4mo ago
Taek•4mo ago
mothballed•4mo ago
Honestly it's refreshing to hear the truth. I thought something similar at sentencing when Weev told the judge he hoped she'd give him the maximum so people would "storm the docks" and that he not only didn't regret it but wouldn't be so nice next time, which only made it all the more sweeter when the bitch's sentence got totally vacated.
karlgkk•4mo ago
weev over-estimated his popularity. he was a deeply unpleasant person, and he didn't have a movement or any fans of him in a personal way
in addition, his whole shtick was being as annoying and confrontational as possible. "weev belongs in jail but not like that" was the general sentiment i heard
so no, it wasn't "sweet". he could have rotted in jail and nobody would have cared other than the awful precedent that ruling would have set. and that'd be the most fitting end tbqh lol
> he not only didn't regret it but wouldn't be so nice next time
despite all of his hard chatting, he immediately fled the country after he was released. last i heard he's living in some eastern european shithole pretending he's huwhite and running the stormfront servers (im not joking). loser behavior
watwut•4mo ago
> which only made it all the more sweeter when the bitch's sentence got totally vacated
Yeah, everyone who does not admire toxic nazi is a bitch.
mothballed•4mo ago
wubrr•4mo ago
They obviously do multiple times in the article, including the same paragraph you referenced in your comment.
"He said he wished he hadn’t hurt his family, or his victims, but he seemed hopeful that the friendships he made would endure. “I’m not saying what I did was a good thing, it’s a horrible community, and what I did was bad,” Noah said. “But I loved my life. I like who I am. I’m glad I was able to live life as I lived it.”"
Did someone steal your shitcoin?
z3dd•4mo ago
he's not even pretending he has regrets. All that around is just PR, he's a serial manipulator and there's no reason to believe that he's suddenly changed after such a short period of time.
wubrr•4mo ago
He literally says he has regrets in the first sentence of the paragraph.
> All that around is just PR, he's a serial manipulator and there's no reason to believe that he's suddenly changed after such a short period of time.
Maybe. That's you opinion. I'm not a mind reader, and I don't really care. Plenty of white-collar criminals get much lighter sentences for stealing much more money.
hn_acc1•4mo ago