Jim Browning is not his real name.
It’s a classic gray area in the netherworld of computer hacking, as we will explain.
One night that spring, his curiosity got the better of him.
It was part nosiness and part intellectual curiosity, Jim said.
I’m a problem solver and I wanted to get to the bottom of what these people wanted.
So he returned one of the calls.
The person who answered asked if he could access Jim’s computer to diagnose the problem.
It took mere moments to confirm his hunch: It was a scam.
Jim saw, for example, how the callers used psychology to put targets at ease.
Jim’s YouTube videos garnered mild interest a couple thousand views at best.
For Jim, this didn’t matter.
The engineer in him enjoyed solving the maze.
At the least, he was wasting the scammers time.
At best, his videos maybe helped prevent some cases of fraud.
Then one day in 2018, Jim’s evening forays took an unexpected turn.
Hence, the scammer’s request.
Presented with this opportunity, Jim acted quickly.
And he was able to see everything the scammer was frantically trying to do to regain control.
This bit of digital jujitsu changed everything.
Suddenly, Jim was sitting on some powerful knowledge.
But as Spider-Man was told, with great power comes great responsibility.
Jim wondered, What should I do with what I’ve learned?
He would set his software to record, then leave for work as his computers did their thing.
When he came home at night, he reviewed the footage.
Jim posted these new videos, which gave an authentic, bird’s-eye view of how scammers operate.
Jim got annoyed by this criminal’s nonchalance; call it hacker’s pride.
So he decided to grill him.
“Where are you calling from?
“San Jose, replied the scammer from his desk in New Delhi.
“What is your favorite restaurant in San Jose?
The scammer paused and replied, Why do you want to know that?
The man became flustered and eventually hung up.
One woman said, I’m a nervous wreck.
I have MS and I can’t understand a lot, but I’m listening…. She said, Probably not.
I’m a diabetic and I’m legally blind….
“Relax.
You are in safe hands, he said.
