Arnica Valka was one of the world's most notorious cybercrime villages, with an underground economy funded almost entirely by ransomware, stolen credit cards, and identity theft. In this excerpt from Kate Fazzini's 'Kingdom of Lies,' one former hacker from the town explains how she got drawn in.
Across Eastern Europe, cybercrime villages have proliferated to support the lucrative, tax-free industry of scamming people — particularly in Europe and the U.S. — stealing credit card numbers and other schemes.
But once upon a time, she brought CEOs to their knees with a few well-placed emails and well-timed phone calls. Then she fell in love with a tyrant and fled Romania when she was just barely finished being a teenager. Now she's here, and I can't tell you why I met her because we also share a common secret. She looks 10 years older than her actual age. It's not stress in her face. It's the pearl earrings, the dark leather laptop bag. It's on purpose.
To her, it is just home. René was born in Arnica and grew up in Nicolae Ceaușescu-era housing projects. About two years prior to her nineteenth birthday, she noticed her hometown changing. Tech start-ups were percolating in warehouses and old barns, furnished like American social media companies with beanbag chairs and exposed brick walls. René heard the pay at these start-ups was fantastic — too good to be true.
So one morning, she finds herself walking through the main street in town, which she'd not visited since starting college. That's where she sees how the new flood of foreign, possibly illicit money has gently shifted the local landscape. She accepts. She gets to work right away. And it's clear, from the moment she starts, the business is not what it seems.
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