←back to thread

USPS text scammers duped his wife, so he hacked their operation

(blog.smithsecurity.biz)
460 points wglb | 5 comments | 08 Aug 24 23:00 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
Show context
0xEF ◴[09 Aug 24 08:27 UTC] No.41199904[source]▶
I hate that it kicks off with "DISCLAIMER: This is not my work. I would never and don't condone illegal hacking of scammers"

You know what? I do. We all should. These scammers are awful people and deserve to be attacked. I am tired of toothless authorities like CISA and the alphabet agencies in the US doing next to nothing about it unless some YouTube scam baiter does the work for them. Scammers destroy people, not just financially, but emotionally as well, even driving some victims to suicide. As far as I am concerned, any wannabe hacker out there should be using these scammers for target practice.

replies(16): >>41200015 #>>41200161 #>>41200218 #>>41200779 #>>41201185 #>>41201202 #>>41201398 #>>41201432 #>>41201617 #>>41201878 #>>41202474 #>>41202492 #>>41202844 #>>41204073 #>>41204174 #>>41204583 #
chii ◴[09 Aug 24 09:19 UTC] No.41200161[source]▶
vigilantism can spiral out of control. While it makes sense in this scenario, it's because the scammer is obviously breaking some law and is criminal. What happens if it wasn't so obvious?
replies(5): >>41200327 #>>41200477 #>>41200923 #>>41201147 #>>41204978 #
themaninthedark ◴[09 Aug 24 10:25 UTC] No.41200477[source]▶
If society doesn't want vigilantes than it must take an active role in pursuing and punishing criminals.
replies(5): >>41200739 #>>41200760 #>>41200789 #>>41201090 #>>41201346 #
lupusreal ◴[09 Aug 24 12:50 UTC] No.41201346[source]▶
Precisely correct. People have a natural right to receive justice, so IF the government abdicates its assumed responsibility to provide justice people have every moral and ethical right to enact justice themselves.
replies(3): >>41201481 #>>41202384 #>>41204806 #
1. spacebacon ◴[09 Aug 24 13:09 UTC] No.41201481{3}[source]▶
People with every moral and ethical right to enact justice are the types that can acquire clearance and join various authorities in the pursuit.

Vigilante’s don’t abide by the laws so aren’t well positioned to dispense justice in a non hypocritical way.

Maybe carve out a low level clearance that gives grey hat types a little room for counter red team activity.

replies(1): >>41202097 #
2. lupusreal ◴[09 Aug 24 14:19 UTC] No.41202097[source]▶
People have a duty to defer the enactment of justice to the government only if there exists a government which fulfills their end of the deal. If no such government exists, then people are ethically and morally free to do it themselves.
replies(1): >>41205831 #
3. spacebacon ◴[09 Aug 24 22:20 UTC] No.41205831[source]▶
Who says no such government exist?
replies(1): >>41206456 #
4. lupusreal ◴[10 Aug 24 00:14 UTC] No.41206456{3}[source]▶
A government which is effective at prosecuting phone scammers? That government doesn't exist in America. Victims who turn to vigilantism are therefore justified and the negative consequences of this are the responsibility of the government which is neglecting their duty to victims.
replies(1): >>41208730 #
5. spacebacon ◴[10 Aug 24 11:18 UTC] No.41208730{4}[source]▶
As much as I want to agree with you and become a beekeeper I still see holes in reasoning. Governments have prosecuted a number of sim swappers and sms scammers. They are not effective at doing this at volume in my opinion but that can be argued.