9/11/22: Letter to a Young Scammer

Often I get asked for advice by young scammers still early in their careers. 

Some common questions:

“How did you build up your client base?”

“Did you ever feel doubts about whether this was the right industry for you?”

“What did you tell first dates you did for a living?”

“How did you break through the ‘glass ceiling’ as a woman in a field dominated by men?”

Below, I’ll talk about what I wish I had known when I was first starting out.

Never Be Not Scamming

Don’t be a perfectionist. It’s okay not to have the perfect opening line hook. It’s okay if you lose a client here or there because you accidentally mixed your text threads. In the beginning of your career, producing something is better than producing nothing.

Beware the Savvy Grandchild 

There’s nothing worse than when the client you’ve devoted time and resources to, hands their phone to their grandchild to double-check their work. Recognize when this has happened, and move on. Trust me, it’s a fool’s game to try to rope the grandchild into the scam too.

Don’t Compare Yourself to Others

It’s easy to look around and think, “Gee, John obtained 3 million social security numbers last week by breaking into Equifax,” or “Wow, Ellen knows how to program in COBALT to target warehouse infrastructure.” Don’t look at others. Focus on your own work, and on developing your own skills. Comparing yourself to your peers will only worsen Imposter Syndrome. That being said, it's impossible to survive as a scammer in this day and age without solid programming skills. I recommend Ruby or Python to those just starting out.

Document, Document, Document

Readme files are your friend. When you’re juggling nine different conversations with nursing home retirees in Wyoming, trying to get them to text you their debit card pins, it’s easy to confuse them. Similarly, when you look up code you wrote 6 months ago trying to set up a crypto honeypot website, you’re going to be totally lost unless you have good documentation. Personally, I also keep a spare set of magnets handy, on the off chance the office ever gets raided.

Be a Good Boss

One day, you’re going to find that there’s more work to go around than you yourself can do. When that time comes, you’re going to want to onboard help, whether that’s a local in the area, or outsource to overseas. When that happens, make sure to treat your employees and contractors well. Offer good health insurance (and dental! And ma/paternity leave! It’ll set you apart from the others who are hiring). Make sure to give them reasonable work hours. Listen to what their needs are, and be a good mentor - the young college new-grad you just hired could be invent the next Luigi Lipstick Swindle.

Word gets around in the industry, and a good reputation is worth more than the extra couple grand you might get from squeezing those below you.

Find Your Niche. Be On the Edge.

There are hundreds of phishers out there. There are hundreds of cypto cold-linkers. What will set you apart? Be on the cutting edge of scamming. Adapt or die.

Taxes Matter

Don’t pinch pennies - find a good accountant and make sure your tax documentation is in order. 

If you liked this, click on the link below! Send me your name, address, and bank account info, and I’ll send you a token of my appreciation to you, my readership: tinyurl:scambetternotharder

***Credit to K, who inspired this post.

Thanks for giving me actual real life advice when I needed it.