Jack Rhysider
Security professional turned podcaster who creates and hosts Darknet Diaries, a show of stories about hackers, breaches, and cybercrime.
“The co-creator of Blackshades, Michael Hoag, submitted his tool to show them he had a real tool that could scrape credit card data. He had no idea he was pitching the FBI. It's kind of ironic that the co-creator of Blackshades fell for a social engineering trap himself.”
Darknet Diaries · Software Engineering & Infra · November 2026
Context
Jack Rhysider explains how a 2010 FBI sting site for stolen credit cards caught one of the people who made the Blackshades malware. The FBI vetted tools before letting sellers join, which is how Hoag handed over his own malware.
Transcript
…they'd rather die than face the embarrassment or harassment anymore. It's really tragic. We're going to take a quick ad break, but stay with us because this is where the FBI starts to get involved. This episode is sponsored by RAMP. Most companies are already spending more on AI than they realize.
…going and get started with RAMP today. And if you're new to RAMP, you can get $250 off at ramp.com/slash darknet. Go to ramp.com slash darknet. That's ramp.com/slash darknet. The FBI started rooting around in some hacker forums looking for crime, but they weren't focused on this. Not yet, at least.
They were focused on stuff like credit card fraud and online fraud. In 2010, the FBI decided to go on the dark web and build their own stolen credit card exchange. They were hoping thieves would come and sell stolen cards and people would buy them, and then the FBI would catch them in the act. And it's wild to me that the FBI built their own Carter's market on the dark web, a honeypot to trap people. Not only could you buy and sell stolen credit cards there, but they sold tools for stealing credit cards too. However, dark web forums like this only work when there's trust. So the FBI, which was acting like dark web operators, said they'll verify every tool before it's allowed to be sold on this site. So for instance, if you wanted to sell a credit card scraper, the FBI would have to vet you as a seller first. Send us one and we'll test it. And if it's good, we'll approve you as a vendor. The administrators were either undercover agents or confidential sources in the investigation. They were reviewing these products to get evidence of criminal activity…
Miss Teen USA 2013 Cassidy Wolf was one of the victims of a hacker using the malicious software called Blackshades Rat or remote access tool. Authorities say last year, a hacker used Wolf's personal computer webcam to take nude photos of her and threatened to post them online if Wolf didn't send…
Cassidy Wolfe, a high school student from Temecula, California, got an anonymous email. The stranger said he had photos of her, photos taken in her bedroom, through her webcam, on her own computer after he hacked into it. He tried to extort her after threatening to release intimate photos unless…
Yeah, so a few years ago, I was with a friend of mine and I randomly got an email. And in that email, he had attached photos that. He had taken me through my webcam. So it ended up being a federal investigation for three months straight. The guy that did it ended up going to prison for 18 months.
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