Inside the Mind of a Cybercriminal: The Original Internet Godfather Shares His Story | Brett Johnson

The James Altucher Show

James Altucher

Education, Business

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 31 January 2023

⏱️ 99 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Brett Johnson committed tax fraud and credit card fraud from a desk inside the FBI offices for almost a year before going on a cross-country crime spree, stealing $600,000 in four months, making the US Most Wanted list, going to Disney World, getting sent to prison AND THEN ESCAPING! But let's back up...In today's episode of The James Altucher Show, we sit down with Brett Johnson, a man who has lived a double life. Once the leader of ShadowCrew & Counterfeit Library - precursors to the modern dark web - he's now a sought-after cybersecurity expert and consultant, using his insider knowledge of the criminal underworld to help organizations defend themselves against cyber threats.Brett takes us on a wild ride through his upbringing at the hands of manipulative criminal parents, his rise through the burgeoning world of cybercrime and social engineering beginning with mid-'90s eBay fraud, and how his yearning for love and acceptance concluded with his arrest by federal law enforcement.Instead of continuing down the path of criminal activity, Brett has found a way to use his expertise to make the digital world a safer place for all of us. Redemption is possible. No matter what mistakes you've made in the past, it's never too late to turn your life around and use your skills for good.------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book Skip the Line is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltucher.com/podcast.------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsStitcheriHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on Social Media:YouTubeTwitterFacebook ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From day one, enormous amounts of cybercrime having committed on the internet, whether it
0:12.4	was credit card fraud, eBay fraud, tax fraud, fishing attacks, and identity theft, and so
0:20.2	on, the guy who was at the center of it, the kingpin of it, from the beginning was Brett
0:26.7	Johnson, Brett then was caught, escaped from prison, caught again, worked with the government,
0:33.9	and now advises people, speaks about it, gives counsel to large numbers of people about cybercrime
0:40.9	and how to avoid it, so happy to have him tell his story in detail, and it's incredible.
0:46.0	Let's get to it.
0:47.3	This isn't your average business podcast, and he's not your average host.
0:55.3	This is the James Altiger show.
1:07.2	So Brett, you're at one point the most wanted cybercriminal, maybe on the planet, right,
1:12.9	and we're going to talk about all that in your history, but, and this has nothing to do
1:16.9	with the story you're going to tell him, but how do you reckon people say, oh, all the
1:20.1	criminal activities happening in crypto now, it seems to me, all the criminal activities
1:24.4	happening in the US dollar, but I'm just curious about your opinion.
1:29.1	So what I say to that, and I've been asked that before, what I say is, is you can't buy
1:34.2	your weed or your stolen credit cards with US cash.
1:38.4	All right, you have to buy it with a token.
1:41.9	These days it's Monero, more often than not, it's Monero.
1:46.5	Now that being said, if I'm out there buying those stolen credit cards, and I get my laptops
1:52.2	in, I, yeah, I may want to convert it finally to Bitcoin, but as a criminal, I'll want cash
1:58.3	because I can't go out and buy cars and watches and all that stuff with Bitcoin usually.
2:04.1	So I'll need cash on that.
	...

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