Beyond the Internet: A Teenage Hacker’s Journey into the Dark Web’s Underbelly (True Story)
Drugs, ransomware, credit card fraud, money laundering, and blackmailing.
Preface
Hello there, I was a teenage hacker and my real name is ██████. This is story is based on my journey into the messy underbelly of drugs, ransomware, credit card fraud, money laundering, and blackmailing on the dark web.
This all happened back in 2017. Sounds like the plot of a Netflix show doesn’t it?
For the record,
I am not a fan of sharing my personal life on the internet and even with my friends.
So, the reason I’m sharing my personal story is that I recently watched “How to Sell Drugs Online” on Netflix and it brought back all the memories of my dark web days when I was a “wanna-be hacker” and now I want to release my cluster of emotions somehow.
I’ve been holding these emotions for a very long time and now I think I should release them.
Since I couldn’t tell my story to my loved ones, I figured I’d tell it to the whole world instead. Makes perfect sense, right?
Meanwhile, I’m also scared because what goes on the Internet always stays on the Internet; there’s no going back.
And just in case you get lost in all the technical jargon (I mean, who doesn’t love a good dose of gibberish?), don’t worry. There’s always Google to help you out, Or a dictionary, Or common sense, Or…, you get the idea.
This is a long story, but an interesting one (maybe a little boring in the beginning). And let’s just say that I have taken some creative liberties in the retelling of my experiences.
And for the safety of this stupid medium account holder (Tony) on which I am publishing my story:
“THIS STORY IS NOT BASED ON TRUE EVENTS”
And thank you Tony for helping me write my story and I’ll definitely pay you back…sometime…in the future. Just stop bothering me about it, okay!
So, buckle up, folks. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride. And just remember, you can always click that close button in the corner of your screen if things get too real for you. Just saying.
And if you are also a tech geek then you are gonna love Chapter 2.
Chapter 1: The Exploration
So how did I get into hacking? It all started with my love for mobile games like Subway Surfers, Enemy Strike, and Gunship Battle. And let’s face it, who doesn’t want to have unlimited in-game currency, right?
Then I discovered that all I needed were some tools like “Lucky Patcher” and “Cheat Engine” and voila! I had unlimited game currency.
You can use these tools to modify a game or app to bypass in-app purchases and now you have an unlimited game currency that you can use to do anything.
But to be honest, after a while, I started to lose interest in the games I hacked/modded. Who knows why?
Okay, I know: “What’s the point of playing when you have unlimited everything? It’s almost like cheating takes the fun out of it or something.”
And before going forward I would like to inform you about “Internet in India”. This relates to my story. The Internet was a luxury in India before 2016.
The first time I used the internet was in 2014, and I had to purchase a plan for Rs. 249 ($4 approx) for a 1GB-3G data connection, which would simply disappear in a matter of seconds.
So, using the internet at that time was stressful. Like:
Once I had this school project on Disaster Management and I needed to do some research. So, I recharged my dongle (modem).
Then I opened Google and search for “Disaster Management,” but as soon as the page loaded, I’d turn off my mobile data to take screenshots of the webpage, just in case it decided to disappear on me.
After deciding which link to click, usually Wikipedia, I’d turn the internet back on for a split second to load more than 2000 words of text and take more screenshots.
This whole process would cost me about >200 MB of data, and I have no idea why.
It was all madness, but all of that changed when JIO(ISP) came into the picture.
They offered free 4G data and voice services until 31 March 2017. Free, as in zero rupees/dollars. Needless to say, everyone was all over it.
Around this time, I had just passed 10th grade, and my father kept his promise of buying me a laptop. (Apparently, the mere act of getting good/decent grades in 10th class was enough to convince my parents that their child is now a responsible and mature computer user. Ha!)
It was the perfect combination — a free and decent internet connection and a laptop to begin my journey into the world of the Internet. It’s amazing how things fall into place, isn’t it?
THE LEARNING PHASE
As I was exploring the depths of the internet, I became fascinated with the inner workings of website vulnerabilities and the art of exploiting them, & yep coding also.
At first, I thought that I could simply watch some YouTube videos and read articles to learn everything I needed to know. However, I quickly realized that it wasn’t that simple.
Despite watching more than 20 videos and reading countless articles, I still found myself struggling to execute a simple attack. It seemed like every time I tried, there was some unique error that would trip me up.
I kept learning and practising, determined to master the art of hacking. But before I could even get started, I had to learn “How to learn hacking”.
It was tough to find resources that taught anything related to hacking.
I mean, you can find endless videos on “how to use a gun” on youtube, but good luck finding a good one on how to perform a deauth attack on WiFi.
Due to the restrictions of Youtube, I started using sites like Cybrary, and Udemy, And reading books.
But even with those, I still couldn’t execute a successful attack. It was like every method was either outdated or had some loophole that these so-called experts missed (okay! I was using outdated content).
But, despite the hurdles, I managed to learn a few basic attacks like SQL injections and some WiFi attacks. And then, the moment I had been waiting for arrived — my first successful attack.
MY FIRST HACK!
It wasn’t anything fancy — just a simple WiFi deauth attack on my own network. It’s a simple trick that hackers have been using for years to get their hands on WiFi passwords and mess with people’s internet connections.
And using a Deauth attack with Fluxion I can easily gain access to WPA and WPA2 (WiFi) network passwords.
All I had to do was deauth or jam the network devices, clone the router/host and pretend to be it. Then, when the disconnected devices tried to join my clone, they’d be prompted to enter a password.
And just like that, I had access to their passwords without having to brute force my way through and saves a lot of time.
Fluxion was my favourite because it would check the password with the original network and keep deauthing or jamming the target until they got it right.
[In short, pretend to be the host and when users will connect with you they will enter the password of the original host and voila! you have the password of that wifi network or in one word “phishing wifi”]
Of course, now the tool is outdated due to the advent of WPA3. But hey, there’s still a walkthrough out there.
Zaid Sabih
[image]
So, who is this dude anyway? Well, he’s an ethical hacker and pentester and a computer scientist… blab blab.
As you know back in the day, it was a pain to find decent hacking resources, but this guy was one of the few legit sources of knowledge.
He was like a hacker Baby Yoda, leading us through the murky waters of cyber-security. (Okay I am exaggerating now but you get the idea of who he is.)
I came across his courses and it was pure gold for me, Not only I was able to understand the theory part easily but also the practical use and “How to perform it” and fixing errors.
So, In short, I was able to step up from a beginner and a script kiddie to a pro script kiddie (Whatever that means!).
Multiple Hacks
After some time, I was using my skills in the real world like defacing vulnerable websites and performing lots of SQL injections and cross-site scripting.
So, here is my Daily Routine which I was following Strictly and unknowingly:
- 6:00 AM: Wake up and start the day with some light reading and hacking videos. Because who needs breakfast when you can have hacking knowledge, right? (Just kidding)
- 7:30 AM to 6:00 PM: Usual boring stuff like getting ready for school, going to school then coaching then coming back home.
- 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM: Finding+preforming SQL injections and XSS on websites, Mainly defacing the site.
And, I didn’t want to be too destructive — I’m not a monster, after all. No need to delete entire websites or anything. Just a few harmless defacements here and there, adding in some funny messages.
Like: “Devil was here”, “GOD is watching you”, and “We know your dirty little secret😏” — classic lines that never get old.
Old schools and college websites were my favourite targets because there were the only easy targets. And let’s be real, these sites were just asking for it.
And sometimes I use to edit “A note from principal” sections, where I used to write some crazy stuff.
The Dark Web
It was only a matter of time before my curiosity led me to the dark web. I had heard stories about it and was intrigued by the idea of an unregulated, anonymous space on the internet(pretty cool right?).
Let me explain the dark web to you:
So, you know how the internet is like an iceberg? You see the tip of it, but you don’t know what’s hiding underneath. Well, the dark web is like the shady, sketchy, dangerous part of that iceberg that you wouldn’t want to touch.
It’s a place where people wear masks, use fake names, and engage in all sorts of unlawful activities.
It’s like the shabby underbelly of the internet, the place where your grandma warned you not to go because you might never come back! (Now this is too much but you get the idea.)
On the dark web, you can buy drugs, weapons, stolen credit cards, and all sorts of other illegal things. You can even hire hitmen if you’re into that sort of thing. Just kidding, don’t do that.
But it’s not all bad. There are some genuinely useful things there too. For example, you can find rare books, hard-to-find movies, and other niche stuff that you can’t find on the regular internet.
You will be anonymous. So, if you want to talk to whistle-blowers or share some critical information then it’s the right place for you.
To get there, you’ll need a special browser, like Tor, that lets you access the dark web. And even then, you’ll need to know where to look and what to look for. It’s like a secret club that only the cool kids know about.
Exploring The Dark web
The dark web is like the Wild West of the internet, where the rules don’t apply, and everyone is out for themselves(Yep!). It’s like a virtual Mad Max wasteland, but without the cool cars and leather jackets.
[I think I should be a comedian.]
The first thing I ever came across was the dark web marketplace.
It was a complex network of sellers and buyers, operating under the cover of anonymity. It was a place where trust was hard to come by, and reputation was everything.
You had to be careful who you dealt with, as scams and rip-offs were common. Because most of the sites were govt hosted sites to catch noobs(mostly teenagers) trying to buy drugs or run by scammers.
As I explored further, I stumbled upon several forums dedicated to hacking, cybercrime, and other nefarious activities (things that are beyond imagination like Revenge p0rn, Counterfeiting | let’s just forget this).
It’s like a virtual clubhouse for criminals, but don’t worry, they’re all perfectly harmless! (💀💀💀).
And if you’re still considering exploring the dark web. Just make sure you do your research and take all necessary precautions to protect yourself from hackers, scams, and law enforcement agencies.
Or you can enjoy the thrill of the dark web through my experiences and this story, while safely tucked behind your screen.
Because installing Tor on your windows or macOS or phone generates a red flag for law enforcement agencies if you are under surveillance.
And if you don’t want this to happen to your door then don’t buy stuff from dark web marketplaces.
Quick Recap — Till now I have learned how to hack without doing anything illegal except for the internet graffiti.
However, everything changed when I stumbled upon a group/forum on the dark web. Joining that group was the turning point where things began to take a turn.
And I’m not trying to justify or encourage illegal activities, just sharing my experiences and observations about the darker side of the internet and the behaviour of a person(hacker) in that space.
The next chapter is going to be the real deal! Chapter 1 (The Exploration) was just a warm-up to give you some context. But Chapter 2 (The Chat Room)?: That’s where the epicness starts(a hackers paradise)! and it’s going to be technical but not too technical.
So get ready for a wild ride because things are about to get real!
[Dramtic typing Sound outro]
Here Chapter 2:
Chapter 2: “The Chat Room”. From Beyond the Internet: A Teenage… | by Tony | Sep, 2023 | Medium
