Cyber Criminal: Web Of Lies

This is a preview for my next book, Cyber Criminal: Web Of Lies. It is about an infamous hacker who finally gets caught, he is quickly black mailed into using his hacking skills for good, rather than bad. However, our main character isn't exactly a goody two shoes, for he is a very selfish and cruel person, will this experience change him for the better?

(This is a fictional story)

Prologue:

Online you can be anyone, anywhere doing anything you could ever want. By day, a janitor, by night a celebrity. But it's all lies, photo-shop, deception by the poor and desperate, or young men looking to be alpha, maybe young girls trying to appear more popular. Uvid, Songbird, Pictagram, Superstar, Mylife free social media sites to rot your brain. I was like you once, grinding all day in work between selfies, posting hashtags, photos of my cats and dogs at home, lying all night about my success as a musician. I put my CD in a local shop; I said it was available worldwide, that the picture was taken in the high street stores, but that too was a lie, they didn't even sell it there, I just put on the shelf and snapped the pic. Tricks like this worked on rare occasions, but never really landed, I wasted years of my life trying to go viral, I posted more than I played, regurgitating the same clickbait garbage over and over again to satisfy my addiction. To feel the dopamine hit from a bell notification on my phone, to receive no royalties but act like a millionaire anyway. I thought if I could trick enough people I'd be successful, but that never comes to be. It's an endless drug that is never ever fulfilled, hooked on the virtual sugar that is attention, clout, "recognition" but it's just likes and comments, it makes you feel special for a second, but then that high ends. Soon you're twenty five and the world's ran passed you, your friends are getting married, some have their own houses and others have cars, but you, (or me, I should say), who was I? What had I done? Instead of pursuing a higher education, job promotion, wife, family, a foundation for life. I chased fame, and I've had my highs, but at the end of it all, I was single, living under my mother's roof. A grown man living like a child with next to no money, a bad job and a cruel boss. This only made my online addiction all the more relentless, my eyes were always red, staring at the bright, white screen all night, slowly killing my vision for that sweet, sweet dopamine drip. Yet I never made it famous. Not until I decided to cheat. Nobody cared about my real achievements, they were miniscule to everyone, but I could lie, ridiculously so and many believed it, but I still wasn't rich. So I learnt to code, then I began hacking. Used data stolen from women I liked, used their data to talk them into a seeing me, but they always caught on and freaked out (of course), but then I took things further. I hated my job, the boss was a horrible, greedy man. These films, shows and games about vigilante hackers fighting against the system began to grow in my mind. I had enough of living like a child, due to the falling economic climate, bad pay and horrid work conditions. In the end I had enough and chose to actually do something about it, I decided to finally man up and take what was mine. I bought a pre-owned laptop, logged into the company website, but I used my bosses email address (which he gave to me, foolishly, for contact purposes) to login. Password was easy to guess, after a bit of digging I discovered his Mylife account, he had a daughter named Angela, and she was only 4 years old. Wasn't hard to guess the password; Angela4, as the website was relatively new too. I logged in. I had access to the whole account, I could delete it if I wanted to, but that wasn't what I wanted. I selected my name among many others and poured and stripped my bosses bank account dry. I split my take into 20 different cash apps and it arrived in seconds, £25,000 cash spread across multiple accounts. I burned the pre-owned laptop before my boss even knew what had happened and soon that 25k was mine, however I had to withdraw as much of it as quickly as possible before it could be ceased. I was able to take out £12,000 cash without any of the banks getting suspicious, I deleted all my emails, social media and destroyed my phone. I escaped my mother's house during the dead of night, so not even she would know which direction I went. I had completely erased myself from the internet, luckily I lived a very sheltered life, so there weren't many pictures of me online with friends or family, I deleted them all and became completely anonymous.

That was 4 years ago. It is now 2023, the pandemic has come and gone, and now we are living in a recession. The youth of today have it rough, but I am no heroic hacker vigilante. In fact, I am quite the opposite. Living off the grid, yet with thousands of dollars all spread across many, many offshore bank accounts. I don't know why I'm telling you all of this, but I suppose the life of a cyber criminal is lonely. I am currently America's most wanted, yet unknown individual. A complete ghost online, who would've known that to become godlike, you would have to become completely invisible to the naked eye. I know everyone's secrets. I know where you and your boyfriend went drinking last Saturday, I know about all the affairs he's had behind your back, but I won't tell, it's not my business but this amuses me. I see so many guys who were just like me, wanting to be actors, musicians, authors, artists, singers and dancers, all wishing they could be America's next big star. I see the rise in hope within their eyes, only to succumb to the dark reality that those dreams never come to be. I've hacked many corporations who have used up these little dreamers, sucking the life out of them. I take the rich man's money and who do I give it to? Myself. Like I said, I'm no hero. I seek out vulnerable people, desperate guys once like myself. I take their money too. I'm not a good man and I really don't care. It's quite annoying having to move around the country though, every now and then, the government catch on, but I evacuate before they can get near me. Currently I am in hiding (again), within the city of Chicago. My last stop was New York, this city ain't much different though. It's still full of crime, gangsters around every street corner, thieves and mad men hiding in the dark alleys. I keep my head down and look intimidating enough as I'm quite a big man, people rarely mess with me.

I recently got an email, somebody is onto me and it isn't the police. Is it another cyber criminal? Somebody like me, or an invitation to an underground hacker group? (I ain't about to join no kids club!), Whoever it is, I want answers. The email was short, concise and straight to the point: "I see you. 29ghost. Meet at 47 Fredrickson Street, 3:30am tomorrow. Or your identity and crimes will be revealed." Below the email there was a series of attached photographs and documents. Images of my face, my real name, family, everything I had worked so hard to erase was miraculously restored, along with screenshots and video footage proving I committed multiple acts of data harvesting, hacking, identify theft, fraud and money laundering. They even had evidence of all the hits I had sent out to people I didn't like, all of my hired thugs were photographed and named. Every single crime I had committed was recorded and the list went on for seemingly forever. I had gotten so used to manipulating the system, I forgot just how much chaos I had caused. For the first time in four years, I felt scared, suddenly uncertain of myself and that familiar dread of an unknown future began to creep up on me again, like some terrifying spider with a poisonous bite. I had no choice, whoever this messenger was, I had to meet them. It was either that, or spend the rest of my life within a cold prison cell, or possibly face death by the hands of executioners or vengeful inmates.

Now my hacker's utopia is finally at risk and I am willing to do anything to protect my wealth, freedom and power. I'm angry, terrified, anxious, paranoid and shaking. Maybe this is karma, I'm finally getting what I deserve, now it's me who is being black mailed. I've still got more money than anyone I know though (I don't know many to be fair), maybe I can buy this hacker off, if not, I'll hire someone to find him, her or whatever group this is that's onto me. I can't keep thinking about this, it's driving me nuts, I need answers. The meeting is in 2 hours from now, I haven't been able to sleep. It's time to shut up, grab my coat and walk to Frederickson Street. Fortunately, it's not too far from here.

Cyber Criminal: Web Of Lies is still in development. I hope you have enjoyed this preview, see you soon!