
How A Young Woman Followed Two Hackers' Lies to Her Death - jbegley
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/josephbernstein/tomi-masters-down-the-rabbit-hole-i-go
======
danso
Besides this being an impressively reported and written story, to me it's also
another example of how wrong I continue to have been, since watching "Catch Me
If You Can" and thinking that there wasn't much chance for a Fred Abagnale to
exist in the modern centralized digital world (the Fyre Festival is of course
another recent example of high-flying fraud). Reading about how easy it was
for the victim's boyfriend, recently associated (but not convicted) with a
criminal hacking group, to make himself seem like a big social media/crypto
influencer makes me think that the arms race between verification and
obfuscation will go on for a long time.

This story was also another reminder of how fast and overwhelming the news
cycle seems to be these days. I remember reading Tomi Masters' death because
of how unusual it was, but had completely forgotten about it until reading
this story. If you asked me to remember when I first read about her case, I
would've sworn it was at least half a year ago. But her death was reported in
late December, so just about 1.5 months ago.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Abagnale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Abagnale)

~~~
Animats
_arms race between verification and obfuscation will go on for a long time._

It's worse at the top. Theranos. Madoff. MMM. Better Place. The entire binary
option industry. Scams are getting bigger. Billion dollar scams were rare in
history until recently.

~~~
pjc50
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alves_dos_Reis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alves_dos_Reis)
: man prints almost 1% of the GDP in Portugal in "real" forged notes through
an elaborate scheme, and nearly manages to buy the bank of Portugal.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_schemes_in_Albania](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_schemes_in_Albania)
: entire economy of Albania consumed by pyramid schemes, resulting in civil
war.

(There's a lot more of this stuff in "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the
Madness of Crowds", from earlier in history)

~~~
JetSpiegel
Alves dos Reis is a great story. He managed to forge the central bank request
to print notes, the notes were literally from the same printing presses so
they weren't even fakes, as you mention.

~~~
pjc50
I recently got hold of the book ("the man who stole portugal") and it's full
of tremendous little details, like the notes being delivered by the printers
in travelling trunks to the left luggage office of Victoria station. The whole
thing relied on William Waterlow being spectacularly naive combined with Reis'
skills in forging credentials and letters of introduction.

------
mknze
Too bad the title uses the moniker "Hackers" to describe the two men
involved... The article title should read "...Followed Two Psychopaths..."

~~~
ip26
Sometimes I wonder what the demographics are, _really_. Are 98% of hackers
well-educated guys from MIT working for NASA or RedHat? Or is it the case that
I've occasionally found myself in, romanticizing a culture & defending its
ethos & values, until one day my eyes are opened and I realize 98% of are
really just misfits, thugs, or crooks.

Fast & Furious comes to mind unbidden- lots of young men love cars, speed,
driving. Here's a movie celebrating their earnest passion. Oh, by the way, in
case you weren't paying attention the cast is a crime ring and fast cars are
how they evade the law.

Same question goes for bitcoin- and lo, it seems these men were involved in
that too.

~~~
syshum
That largely depends on what your definition of "hacker" is.

It has changed over the years to a completely different meaning, hacking was
never meant to be a direct reference to criminal activity but that seems to be
where it has evolved

The hacking culture was more about using technology, systems, or anything
really in ways not originally intended by the manufacturer, or administrator
of said system, technology or object

That can be either legal or illegal but the act of hacking itself was not
legal or illegal it depended on the system or object you where hacking

Today however people almost exclusively use the term hacker to refer to
criminal activity

~~~
pure-awesome
This site's name, of course, more slanted towards the original meaning rather
than the criminal one.

------
blattimwind
Honestly these two psychos sound exactly like the type of person that someday
scams someone who calls people with piano wire.

The life of the girl is of course really quite tragic, and that the two
murderers can conceivably get away with it only deepens that tragedy, but on
the other hand the whole gang didn't even try to appear trustworthy... lies
are poisenous fruit, especially between persons. Liars cannot be trusted, and
liars don't change.

------
TomMckenny
>"I need a gun that can’t have serial numbers on it"

Unfortunately, that's not how it works. There is no database connecting owners
to guns[0] let alone ballistics tests to serial numbers.

[0][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearm_Owners_Protection_Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearm_Owners_Protection_Act)

~~~
wl
Just because there's no database doesn't mean a gun can't be connected to an
owner. Manufacturers keep records of which serial numbers go to which
distributors. Those distributors keep track of which dealers get which guns.
Those dealers are required by law to keep a record of who bought what guns.
It's not a database query, but it is a few phone calls. And in California
(where this happened), all private sales must go through the DROS system.
Getting a gun not connected to you requires breaking the law these days.

NIBIN is a database of shell casing toolmarks that can potentially link shell
casings found at different shootings together.

~~~
nabnob
This varies state by state, and California is notorious as one of the states
with stricter gun laws. In many parts of the country, person-to-person gun
sales (without a firearms license) are common and police rarely investigate
them.

~~~
unityByFreedom
notorious?

~~~
solidsnack9000
Many of the laws of California, and of certain localities in California,
reflect hostility to guns and gun owners more than they reflect any concern
with public safety.

For example, in San Francisco it was illegal for many years to own an airsoft
gun (replica firearm that fires little 0.2g plastic pellets). This was struck
down only when Arnold Schwarzenegger passed a law to the effect that replica
firearms were to be regulated at the state level. It is hard to see what a ban
on airsoft guns was intended to accomplish, since they are not viable as
weapons at all.

More seriously, California laws concerning handgun sales prevent Californians
from benefitting from safety improvements in newer firearms (as well as
preventing them from benefitting from the coolness of new firearms). Only
handguns on a select list are permitted to be sold in California, and Kamala
Harris closed the list some years ago. Ostensibly this is because the state of
California would (a) like to see newer handguns implement "micro-stamping",
where the gun imprints its serial number on each shell and bullet as it is
fired and (b) believes this technology to be generally available. It's not
that (a) is a bad thing but (b) is completely false; there are virtually no
firearms that implement micro-stamping.

Most absurdly, the ban on "assault weapons" is in practice a ban on rifles
with a pistol grip, as opposed to those with a classic stock. Rifles are used
in a small minority -- 5% -- of shootings, in any event. They are (a)
inconvenient to transport and (b) harder to use for a robbery, where the
robber would like to have one hand free to grab stuff. The ban on rifles with
pistol grips is something that is more a matter of showing the flag than
affecting a real positive public benefit.

Travel restrictions on firearms are also more onerous than useful. In
California, we can travel with firearms to any place where we may legitimately
use firearms or transship them, but woe betide us if we should stop for a
coffee on the way there. Thus we may travel to and from a shooting range, but
not stop for lunch at any point. Given that we are to lock our unloaded
firearms up when we travel with them, it's hard to see what is gained by
preventing us from stopping along the way.

~~~
all_factz
It always gets me how eloquent and informed gun-rights people become about
owning weapons which are basically intended to kill people.

~~~
salawat
They are intended to accelerate a small projectile at high speed using
combustion gases as the prime mover.

I don't want to turn this into a political flamewar, but please don't assume
malicious intent as the primary motivation for a tool's existence. That's like
saying lockpicks are only good for burglary, axes for dismemberment, or knives
for stabbing.

Non-violent guns: [https://www.navalcompany.com](https://www.navalcompany.com)
line throwing shotgun

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flare_gun](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flare_gun)
Flare gun

And blanks are used to sink things in concrete.

It's a tool. It has a function. The function of the tool is independent of the
intents of it's wielder.

------
parliament32
Surprisingly good reporting for Buzzfeed, I much prefer this sort of long-form
article to their usual "junk food" stories.

~~~
dr_orpheus
Buzzfeed News is a far cry from normal Buzzfeed. They are more of a
traditional news organization. They have actually gotten quite a few awards
for their investigative journalism including being finalists for two
Pulitzers:

[https://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/staff-buzzfeed-
news](https://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/staff-buzzfeed-news)

[https://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/chris-hamby-buzzfeed-
news](https://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/chris-hamby-buzzfeed-news)

~~~
pathseeker
They should change their name. I wonder how many people ignore the articles
when they see "Buzzfeed". It would be like the National Enquirer trying to
start a serious arm under "National Enquirer News".

~~~
scruple
I've seen this article headline/link at least half a dozen times in the last
24 hours and avoided reading it until this comment thread _precisely_ because
I saw BuzzFeed.

------
everdev
Did I miss why he hid his mouth in all of his photos?

~~~
52-6F-62
I'm assuming it's a mix of: concealing his looks for any photos posted online
and his insecurity, as mentioned in the article.

~~~
munk-a
It'd be nice if they were more explicit about their reason for mentioning it
in passing - I'd assume it's to break (or at least make it harder for...)
facial recognition software.

~~~
ip26
Could simply be that no one really knows, and the real reason is something you
would never guess, ala "They can't convict a husband and wife for the same
crime!"

~~~
munk-a
That's true! My nautical lawyer told me so!

------
walrus01
Semantics and terminology question, how the hell are these two psychos
"hackers"? By that standard , every 14 year old on Xbox live who claims to
have had carnal relations with my mother is a hacker.

~~~
danso
The woman first met her bf/ex-killer because he successfully
impersonated/hijacked a verified Instagram account. Both the BF and the other
accused killer were part of UGNazi, accused of mass phishing and successful
site attacks. Hell, there’s even an anecdote involving getting yelled at by
parents for not logging off of IRC.

~~~
walrus01
Social engineering your way into an Instagram account, or hiring DDoS services
are not "hacking". By the standards of late 1990s Phrack magazine, or modern
PoC|GTFO, these clowns couldn't hack their way out of a wet paper bag.

~~~
baroffoos
The modern version of hacker just means doing something bad where a computer
was somehow involved.

------
headcanon
A very sad story, but commendable reporting. The whole story feels straight
out of a Gibson novel.

------
fetbaffe
This story is really weird, Masters somewhat knew it was all fake, but still
beleived in it.

Tragic.

~~~
enneff
Sounds like a classic abusive relationship. Really tragic.

~~~
blattimwind
Yes. 'According to Weber, another of Masters’ siblings “noticed bruising
around Tomi's neck,” but said that Masters begged them not to tell her parents
about it. Masters told the sibling the relationship was “not as bad as it
seemed.”'

------
onemoresoop
One take of mine is that Master's relationship with woody was
codependent/narcissistic. It's very sad that she ended this way. It seems to
me like the dark side of the internet is a breeding ground for narcissists and
abusers of all sorts. Sad story..

------
4ad
Doesn't GDPR forbid this shit?
[https://i.imgur.com/MG5jIrZ.png](https://i.imgur.com/MG5jIrZ.png)

~~~
danso
Forbid what exactly? The storage and use of user data? That would forbid
virtually every web service.

~~~
4ad
[https://www.out-law.com/en/articles/2018/may/european-
data-p...](https://www.out-law.com/en/articles/2018/may/european-data-
protection-board-cookie-walls-ban/)

[https://pagefair.com/blog/2017/tracking-
walls/](https://pagefair.com/blog/2017/tracking-walls/)

[https://www.ivir.nl/publicaties/download/EDPL_2017_03.pdf](https://www.ivir.nl/publicaties/download/EDPL_2017_03.pdf)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17031425](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17031425)

For comparison, this is a compliant site:
[https://i.imgur.com/Xp0sHe6.png](https://i.imgur.com/Xp0sHe6.png)

~~~
danso
Again, can you provide specifics. I clicked through the HN link to see a
debate over what GDPR contains and whether that applies to FB’s
implementation. I’m not from the EU so I’m not able to see the interaction
flow based on a screenshot. What happens when you select “Reject All”, for
instance?

~~~
pluma
You can't disable the "required" ones, even though they're obviously not all
technically required to serve the content.

------
jaimex2
Whats the tldr?

~~~
labster
Sex, lies, and hacked BTC wallets. You should read the article, it's really
good.

~~~
mrhappyunhappy
If I had to bet on it they put up a fake service and scammed the btc by
running away with it instead of hacking anything. Manipulation was the name of
the game, not so much hacking.

~~~
labster
Social hacking is still hacking, friend.

~~~
mrhappyunhappy
Setting up a fraudulent product or service just to collect crypto and run away
with the funds is not social hacking. I believe the government calls that
online fraud.

------
jyriand
What's up with these titles nowadays? I don't know if it's because the title
is (possibly) missing a semicolon before 'A Young Woman Followed Two Hackers',
or Lies to Her Death -- but I can't make a sense out of it. Is somebody dead
because they lied? (I know I should have read the article, but this title!!)

~~~
ColinWright
The title makes perfect sense. A young woman died. She died because two
hackers lied, and she followed those lies. This is the story of how it
happened.

So this is how a young woman followed the lies for two hackers, and died.

This is:

"How A Young Woman Followed Two Hackers' Lies To Her Death"

The apostrophe after "hackers" shows that the lies belonged to the hackers.
The phrase "Two Hackers' Lies" is a noun phrase, it's a thing, it's the
collection of lies told by two hackers.

Does that help?

~~~
emmelaich
I think "following lies" is the thing that trips people up.

You can't "follow lies" literally -- I'm not sure what the figure of speech is
here though. Metonymy?

~~~
ColinWright
You can follow instructions, and if someone is saying something and you act in
a way that is modified by what they've said, then you are, in a very real
sense, following what they've said. More, act A can occur before act B, so B
is said to follow A.

So when someone tells lies, and you act on the (false) information therein,
then I think it's reasonable to say that you are following the lies.

------
Wordball
Twin Geeks

~~~
iamjochem
Callous

------
brave_heart
What a great loss to her family. These kids have no idea what is like to lose
a grown-up girl. I wish they live to be a father and somebody do the same to
them and they know what it feels like.

