18 ms·

The IT Guy vs. the Con Artist

536 points by danso 7y ago

danso 7y ago
The radio version: https://www.npr.org/2019/08/07/749135286/episode-931-the-it-guy-vs-the-con-artist https://www.npr.org/2019/08/07/749135286/episode-931-the-it-... The climax of this story involves the belief that “Linux servers don’t just crash”.
- radious 7y ago
  I cringed so hard when I heard that...
- NikolaeVarius 7y ago
  I refuse to believe this wasn't just a way to add drama/tension. You can't work in IT and actually believe this.
  - asdfman123 7y ago
    Well, he was afraid he was going to be murdered by criminals. Under those circumstances even slight suspicion would be terrifying.
    - klenwell 7y ago
      And he'd been working there long enough to know that this wasn't a common event. He even qualifies it, "You know, it's very hard for that to happen."
  - Nightshaxx 7y ago
    It might have been that the specific server in question usually didn't crash because of the applications being run. Also it could have been that the bad guy wasn't giving any detailed information about what happened so it seemed like a setup.
  - dsfyu404ed 7y ago
    They don't "just crash" You need to run stuff you care about on them for that to happen. If you don't they run flawlessly for decades. I know of a switch that was up for 11yr (not a server I know, still a unix/linux based OS though) which is as much a testament to UPSs and backup generators as it is to the OS.
  - parliament32 7y ago
    I mean, it depends. Services crash, sure, that might be what they meant by "the server crashed". But it's very, very difficult for an actual modern kernel to crash and also not auto-reboot and resume whatever it was doing. Hardware failure is always a possibility though.
    - duiker101 7y ago
      maybe the disk filled up?
      - parliament32 7y ago
        That would cause any disk-write-dependent service to crash, yeah, but the kernel isn't one of those. Syslog will stop and a bunch of things will complain, but I've always been able to SSH in and free up some disk.
        jrochkind1 7y ago
        Did you read/listen to the story? A non-tech person called him and said "the server crashed." I am pretty sure they would say that in case of "any disk-write-dependent-services crashed, but you could ssh in and free up some disk." The criminal boss wasn't gonna "ssh in and free up some disk", that's why he had an IT guy! Anyway none of this is particularly important for the story, but I don't think the guy telling it is lying for dramatic effect, I think he's probably being honest that the boss saying "the server crashed" made him suspicious cause that server never crashed, and I too found it amusing for this to be included in the story (as a sort of by-the-by advertisement for linux). (Also, though: it turned out the server really did "crash" in some way).
        parliament32 7y ago
        I just figured he was talking about an OS-level "crash", considering how he went on about how Linux never crashes.
        ajuc 7y ago
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - donkeyd 7y ago
    I set up a couple Linux boxes at work a couple of years ago for some new software we were building. A year later, I logged into the box, checked the up-time and realized it hadn't been rebooted since I installed it. So if that's his experience, I understand him. OTOH, we also have an NGINX box that is automatically restarted once a week, because otherwise our API gets really slow. I understand that this isn't good practice, but we've spent too many hours debugging already and at the end of the day, this works.
- tradertef 7y ago
  Spoiler: their Linux server actually crashed.
- ravenstine 7y ago
  If he was familiar with those servers, he probably had a sense of how likely it would be that they would just "crash" out of the blue. I've seen Linux servers crash, but that's because they were setup by a dumbass and were doing all sorts of insane shit that kept filling up the disk and memory. If a server isn't doing anything stupid, it's pretty unlikely it's going to simply crash. He was working for criminals, and I think they said one guy was wanted for murder, so I can see why he'd be super suspicious.
  - megaremote 7y ago
    Also the fact it crashed on a Sunday when no one was supposed to be at work.
  - hyperman1 7y ago
    In the linux 2.2 days, my home linux had a kernel crash. Every attempt to open a tty caused a stack trace in dmesg.ssh telnet xterm, you name it. Amazingly, the system worked perfectly apart from that. I could troubleshoot the problem, save my work and shut down The point being: Windows would just BSOD in that kind of situation. Not that continuing to run with corrupt kernel data structures is a good idea, but there is something grandiose about the OS stubbornly refusing to die when it's raining kernel crashes.
- dev_dull 7y ago
  "That's the one day I saw a linux server crash..." Most unbelievable part of the story. Cracked me up.
  - hermitdev 7y ago
    It happens. I sent a dev server into a kernel panic when I kill -9'd a hung ddd debugger. This was about 15 years ago, on a 2.x kernel. Pretty sure that issue has long been resolved, but Linux isn't bulletproof.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
Ryleah 7y ago
Just taking a look at the judgement, Emilio was sentenced to 84 months (7 years) around this time in 2012, followed by two years of supervision [1]. I wonder if he was released. Super interesting read overall. Thank you! [1] https://www.docketbird.com/court-documents/USA-v-Torres/JUDGMENT-as-to-Emilio-Jose-Torres-1-Count-s-1-84-mos-impr-2-yrs-s-r-036-100-00-sp-asst-Count-s-2-3-84-mos-impr-to-run-concurrent-2-yrs-s-r-to-run-concurrent-036-100-00-sp-asst-Restitution-Ordered-to-be-paid-jointly-and-severally-Signed-by-District-Ju/ncwd-3:2011-cr-00275-64268-00017 https://www.docketbird.com/court-documents/USA-v-Torres/JUDG...
- umvi 7y ago
  That seems... too lenient. What are the chances he just moves back to Costa Rica and starts up another scam shop, this time refusing to leave?
  - gmanley 7y ago
    I dunno, maybe compared to what were used to but just think about it, 7 years locked up not able to do anything you want, that's huge punishment to me. But I also argue most sentences should be shortened and replaced with programs to reintegrate them into society.
homonculus1 7y ago
>WARNER: Joe Healy is sitting in this conference room with Felipe, the IT guy in his buttoned-up shirt. >HEALY: He's a physically little guy... >WARNER: He's 5-foot-4. >HEALY: ...And not overly muscular. Man, Planet Money's constant interruptions and hacked-apart quotations are just as jarring to read as they are to listen to. It's entirely possible to transition your narrative structure between accessible exposition and raw firsthand accounts--but for some reason Planet Money tries to chase after both, simultaneously, at every second. The result is a choppy, rattling collage of thought fragments. Ugh! What, you guys don't like style criticism? Complaining about a webpage is okay so I don't see why this should be off-topic.
- danso 7y ago
  I generally like Planet Money's style, in which the reporter/correspondent will do a majority of the narration, paraphrasing and interjecting when the original speaker isn't saying something particularly notable. Sometimes this is just necessary, interviewees don't always speak in complete and or/concise fashion, especially when doing boilerplate description. In the example you give, I think the interjection is fine. Healy, the U.S. postal inspector, gives a vague description of Felipe – "a physically little guy" – and the reporter interjects with actual specifics. I don't think the flow would be noticeably better if this was the edited cut: > HEALY: He's a physically little guy...And not overly muscular > NPR: Felipe's actually 5-foot-4
  - homonculus1 7y ago
    If it's unnatural to include before or after, that's because it's not that relevant to the story in the first place. It's enough to be able to picture that his risk is compounded by a physical disadvantage, we don't need to know his exact dimensions if that data isn't worth bringing up afterward. And if it is that important, the middle of someone else's sentence is the most flow-breaking place you could possibly put it.
    - danso 7y ago
      Yeah I think this is definitely a style preference. Planet Money (and other featurey shows, like This American Life) often tries to describe the non-aural qualities of the people in their stories, ostensibly to better humanize them. It's not for everyone but I personally find it to make the subject more engaging.
kevinguay 7y ago
This was a great story.. thanks to Planet Money for re-broadcast it.
klenwell 7y ago
The victims didn't come forward because they felt so ashamed about falling for the con. This is such an interesting essential part of scams. I guess it's a part of human nature. I remember tracking down a phone scam that caught my grandmother once (based out of Montreal) and I eventually got to a point where I discovered that my grandmother had provided a verbal consent over the phone that had kept it just this side of being outright fraud. The scam company played a recording of it for me. I wasn't sure this wasn't fabricated, so I tried to confirm with my grandmother and she was just like, "Well, thanks for all your help, honey, but really this isn't that important. Let's just move on." I recognized how pushing it would just cause her unnecessary pain. So I dropped it and we moved on. Good to know there are people like Felipe around helping to keep things in check. Now when Felipe just lives his life or goes out in the world, he can't help but think everything can be a con, and everybody can be a mark. Yeah, I guess I see the world more or less the same way. And I suppose it makes me a little unusual. Hopefully not too cynical.
- mgleason_3 7y ago
  I found it so interesting to hear that finding victims was the top impediment to prosecution. The amount of pain and anguish these scammers inflict upon some of our most vulnerable citizens is almost unbearable to think about. I couldn’t help but wonder why the FCC hasn’t required CallerID Verification years ago. Especially in this age where we are all being forced to get RealID cards so that our every move can be monitored...
  - dboreham 7y ago
    >I couldn’t help but wonder why the FCC hasn’t required CallerID Verification Because corruption?
    - Nextgrid 7y ago
      Because carriers (and thus the FCC since it's in bed with them) profit from delivering these spam calls and authenticated Caller ID would significantly decrease the amount of these calls.
paggle 7y ago
People who brazenly scam senior citizens like this should get lethal injection. I'm not even being facetious. If we assign this penalty for murdering one person, why not for destroying the lives of thousands of vulnerable people?
- pavel_lishin 7y ago
  You're being downvoted, but I hear where you're coming from. Phone scammers make my blood boil like little else does.
  - crag 7y ago
    I don't know why he was downloaded. I mean, come too Florida and talk to some 80 year old guy who has nothing, due to being scammed or ID theft. Frankly, be better if you just killed the guy. Now this guy has to decide between food and meds because his SSI doesn't cover it all. And his savings are gone.
    - i_am_nomad 7y ago
      I’m with you on that. Lethal injection is too good for the perpetrators - I say, Death of the Boats.
    - paggle 7y ago
      I was downvoted because the same people who have the influence to legalize their crimes have the influence to make the public believe that it is right and proper.
      - pavel_lishin 7y ago
        That is absolutely not why you were downvoted.
        paggle 7y ago
        Read Alex Karakatsanis
gumby 7y ago
One of the things I like about Plant money is that they have transcripts for all their podcasts. I used to listen when I was a driver, but now I don't I can just read the transcript in a few minutes instead of spending 20 minutes or so listening.
- giarc 7y ago
  Increase playback speed. You'd be surprised how your hearing can adjust. Just work your way up in small increments. Just be prepared that if you ever go back to 1x speed, it sounds really weird.
  - gumby 7y ago
    I did that when I was listening, but really I just have a problem with listening to people droning on. It's just so much faster, more visceral, and more random access to read that I've basically just completely abandoned the linear presentation modes (audio and video). Podcasts also tend to have a lot of side chitchat, breaks etc which don't add anything for me. I know some people really like that; I've hear it makes the conversation seem a lot more personal and connecting. Great, just not for me.
  - fencepost 7y ago
    Up to 1.4 is not a big deal, somewhere around 1.5 or starts to get a little strange. Since I generally have technical or industry related podcasts going while doing other things too high a speed becomes a hindrance.
    - liability 7y ago
      Try out rubberband. I find that with rubberband and mpv I can get close to 3x and still understand many (but not all) speakers. It depends on their particular accent/annunciation/cadence though. Some accents, like RP, are very clear to me at 1x but degrade more rapidly (for me) than others at high speeds. https://breakfastquay.com/rubberband/ https://breakfastquay.com/rubberband/
grendelt 7y ago
Great story but a little anticlimactic. It's like yadda-yadda-yadda, he gets arrested and goes to prison. That's it? The story is just an IT guy that tells US authorities before he takes on a job with scammers and is then a mole? It's neat and all, but not a totally captivating tale. If you haven't heard it, this is a good one: https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/6nh3wk https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/6nh3wk
- jscholes 7y ago
  > We found these guys who live in Bradford, England who are setting up websites and companies so that they can process money for Accostings in the UK. I'm from Bradford - this is not at all surprising.
Smithalicious 7y ago
I simply do not pick up unexpected phone calls. If it's actually important, they'll leave a message saying who they are, and I will look up the number for that organisation and call them back.
cryptozeus 7y ago
What a crazy life ! Great read. So what know the guys is out and will scam again?
cosmodisk 7y ago
We don't have IT scams like this in Lithuania,as nobody ever pays for IT support,they just get someone they know to do it for free. However massive prize scams used to be quite popular and still are to certain degree today. Scammer calls a victim and claims he's calling from a radio show,some company, events organiser, whatever.Then obviously comes the part where he saya that the victim won x,y,z and all they. need to do is to buy some prepaid topup cards for mobile( these usually have a code on them that needs to be used to add credit) and tell the con artist those codes,for "verification purposes" or whatever the reason of the day is. This was many years ago. One day,a friend of mine gets home and his dad,a surgeon, shouts across the room: Anthony,we won!!!!we won it all!!My friend: what? Yeah,we won!! HI-Fi system, a vacuum cleaner and I think a washing masine as well!!!Yeah! My friend,still being quite confused about his dad's instant gains: what are you talking about, where's this coming from? Well,the guy called from the radio,they ran a game and we won.Anthony, here's some money(it was at least a couple weeks wage),go to the shop across the road and buy topup cards,will you? My friend looked at his dad and said: dad, shut up and go back to bed.
- intarga 7y ago
  > get someone they know to do it for free. Because people with technology skills should perform free labour for people without...
  - saint_fiasco 7y ago
    Labor is cheap in the third world, which is annoying when you are the labor, but fortunately it cuts both ways. Dentistry, hair cuts, cleaning services and excellent food are affordable even on low wages.
tm1265 7y ago
"So his friends at the U.S. Embassy got him a visa and got him to the States, where he works in IT." This stuck out to me. Puerto Ricans are United States citizens and as such do not require any kind of visa to live and work in the states. There isn't even an embassy in Puerto Rico since it is part of the United States. Makes me question the rest of the article.
- dointheatl 7y ago
  Puerto Rico != Costa Rica, which is the country this story took place in.

536 points by danso 7y ago

The radio version: https://www.npr.org/2019/08/07/749135286/episode-931-the-it-guy-vs-the-con-artist https://www.npr.org/2019/08/07/749135286/episode-931-the-it-... The climax of this story involves the belief that “Linux servers don’t just crash”.

radious 7y ago
I cringed so hard when I heard that...
NikolaeVarius 7y ago
I refuse to believe this wasn't just a way to add drama/tension. You can't work in IT and actually believe this.
- asdfman123 7y ago
  Well, he was afraid he was going to be murdered by criminals. Under those circumstances even slight suspicion would be terrifying.
  - klenwell 7y ago
    And he'd been working there long enough to know that this wasn't a common event. He even qualifies it, "You know, it's very hard for that to happen."
- Nightshaxx 7y ago
  It might have been that the specific server in question usually didn't crash because of the applications being run. Also it could have been that the bad guy wasn't giving any detailed information about what happened so it seemed like a setup.
- dsfyu404ed 7y ago
  They don't "just crash" You need to run stuff you care about on them for that to happen. If you don't they run flawlessly for decades. I know of a switch that was up for 11yr (not a server I know, still a unix/linux based OS though) which is as much a testament to UPSs and backup generators as it is to the OS.
- parliament32 7y ago
  I mean, it depends. Services crash, sure, that might be what they meant by "the server crashed". But it's very, very difficult for an actual modern kernel to crash and also not auto-reboot and resume whatever it was doing. Hardware failure is always a possibility though.
  - duiker101 7y ago
    maybe the disk filled up?
    - parliament32 7y ago
      That would cause any disk-write-dependent service to crash, yeah, but the kernel isn't one of those. Syslog will stop and a bunch of things will complain, but I've always been able to SSH in and free up some disk.
      - jrochkind1 7y ago
        Did you read/listen to the story? A non-tech person called him and said "the server crashed." I am pretty sure they would say that in case of "any disk-write-dependent-services crashed, but you could ssh in and free up some disk." The criminal boss wasn't gonna "ssh in and free up some disk", that's why he had an IT guy! Anyway none of this is particularly important for the story, but I don't think the guy telling it is lying for dramatic effect, I think he's probably being honest that the boss saying "the server crashed" made him suspicious cause that server never crashed, and I too found it amusing for this to be included in the story (as a sort of by-the-by advertisement for linux). (Also, though: it turned out the server really did "crash" in some way).
        parliament32 7y ago
        I just figured he was talking about an OS-level "crash", considering how he went on about how Linux never crashes.
      - ajuc 7y ago
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- donkeyd 7y ago
  I set up a couple Linux boxes at work a couple of years ago for some new software we were building. A year later, I logged into the box, checked the up-time and realized it hadn't been rebooted since I installed it. So if that's his experience, I understand him. OTOH, we also have an NGINX box that is automatically restarted once a week, because otherwise our API gets really slow. I understand that this isn't good practice, but we've spent too many hours debugging already and at the end of the day, this works.
tradertef 7y ago
Spoiler: their Linux server actually crashed.
ravenstine 7y ago
If he was familiar with those servers, he probably had a sense of how likely it would be that they would just "crash" out of the blue. I've seen Linux servers crash, but that's because they were setup by a dumbass and were doing all sorts of insane shit that kept filling up the disk and memory. If a server isn't doing anything stupid, it's pretty unlikely it's going to simply crash. He was working for criminals, and I think they said one guy was wanted for murder, so I can see why he'd be super suspicious.
- megaremote 7y ago
  Also the fact it crashed on a Sunday when no one was supposed to be at work.
- hyperman1 7y ago
  In the linux 2.2 days, my home linux had a kernel crash. Every attempt to open a tty caused a stack trace in dmesg.ssh telnet xterm, you name it. Amazingly, the system worked perfectly apart from that. I could troubleshoot the problem, save my work and shut down The point being: Windows would just BSOD in that kind of situation. Not that continuing to run with corrupt kernel data structures is a good idea, but there is something grandiose about the OS stubbornly refusing to die when it's raining kernel crashes.
dev_dull 7y ago
"That's the one day I saw a linux server crash..." Most unbelievable part of the story. Cracked me up.
- hermitdev 7y ago
  It happens. I sent a dev server into a kernel panic when I kill -9'd a hung ddd debugger. This was about 15 years ago, on a 2.x kernel. Pretty sure that issue has long been resolved, but Linux isn't bulletproof.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

Ryleah 7y ago

Just taking a look at the judgement, Emilio was sentenced to 84 months (7 years) around this time in 2012, followed by two years of supervision [1]. I wonder if he was released. Super interesting read overall. Thank you! [1] https://www.docketbird.com/court-documents/USA-v-Torres/JUDGMENT-as-to-Emilio-Jose-Torres-1-Count-s-1-84-mos-impr-2-yrs-s-r-036-100-00-sp-asst-Count-s-2-3-84-mos-impr-to-run-concurrent-2-yrs-s-r-to-run-concurrent-036-100-00-sp-asst-Restitution-Ordered-to-be-paid-jointly-and-severally-Signed-by-District-Ju/ncwd-3:2011-cr-00275-64268-00017 https://www.docketbird.com/court-documents/USA-v-Torres/JUDG...

umvi 7y ago
That seems... too lenient. What are the chances he just moves back to Costa Rica and starts up another scam shop, this time refusing to leave?
- gmanley 7y ago
  I dunno, maybe compared to what were used to but just think about it, 7 years locked up not able to do anything you want, that's huge punishment to me. But I also argue most sentences should be shortened and replaced with programs to reintegrate them into society.

homonculus1 7y ago

>WARNER: Joe Healy is sitting in this conference room with Felipe, the IT guy in his buttoned-up shirt. >HEALY: He's a physically little guy... >WARNER: He's 5-foot-4. >HEALY: ...And not overly muscular. Man, Planet Money's constant interruptions and hacked-apart quotations are just as jarring to read as they are to listen to. It's entirely possible to transition your narrative structure between accessible exposition and raw firsthand accounts--but for some reason Planet Money tries to chase after both, simultaneously, at every second. The result is a choppy, rattling collage of thought fragments. Ugh! What, you guys don't like style criticism? Complaining about a webpage is okay so I don't see why this should be off-topic.

danso 7y ago
I generally like Planet Money's style, in which the reporter/correspondent will do a majority of the narration, paraphrasing and interjecting when the original speaker isn't saying something particularly notable. Sometimes this is just necessary, interviewees don't always speak in complete and or/concise fashion, especially when doing boilerplate description. In the example you give, I think the interjection is fine. Healy, the U.S. postal inspector, gives a vague description of Felipe – "a physically little guy" – and the reporter interjects with actual specifics. I don't think the flow would be noticeably better if this was the edited cut: > HEALY: He's a physically little guy...And not overly muscular > NPR: Felipe's actually 5-foot-4
- homonculus1 7y ago
  If it's unnatural to include before or after, that's because it's not that relevant to the story in the first place. It's enough to be able to picture that his risk is compounded by a physical disadvantage, we don't need to know his exact dimensions if that data isn't worth bringing up afterward. And if it is that important, the middle of someone else's sentence is the most flow-breaking place you could possibly put it.
  - danso 7y ago
    Yeah I think this is definitely a style preference. Planet Money (and other featurey shows, like This American Life) often tries to describe the non-aural qualities of the people in their stories, ostensibly to better humanize them. It's not for everyone but I personally find it to make the subject more engaging.

kevinguay 7y ago

This was a great story.. thanks to Planet Money for re-broadcast it.

klenwell 7y ago

The victims didn't come forward because they felt so ashamed about falling for the con. This is such an interesting essential part of scams. I guess it's a part of human nature. I remember tracking down a phone scam that caught my grandmother once (based out of Montreal) and I eventually got to a point where I discovered that my grandmother had provided a verbal consent over the phone that had kept it just this side of being outright fraud. The scam company played a recording of it for me. I wasn't sure this wasn't fabricated, so I tried to confirm with my grandmother and she was just like, "Well, thanks for all your help, honey, but really this isn't that important. Let's just move on." I recognized how pushing it would just cause her unnecessary pain. So I dropped it and we moved on. Good to know there are people like Felipe around helping to keep things in check. Now when Felipe just lives his life or goes out in the world, he can't help but think everything can be a con, and everybody can be a mark. Yeah, I guess I see the world more or less the same way. And I suppose it makes me a little unusual. Hopefully not too cynical.

mgleason_3 7y ago
I found it so interesting to hear that finding victims was the top impediment to prosecution. The amount of pain and anguish these scammers inflict upon some of our most vulnerable citizens is almost unbearable to think about. I couldn’t help but wonder why the FCC hasn’t required CallerID Verification years ago. Especially in this age where we are all being forced to get RealID cards so that our every move can be monitored...
- dboreham 7y ago
  >I couldn’t help but wonder why the FCC hasn’t required CallerID Verification Because corruption?
  - Nextgrid 7y ago
    Because carriers (and thus the FCC since it's in bed with them) profit from delivering these spam calls and authenticated Caller ID would significantly decrease the amount of these calls.

paggle 7y ago

People who brazenly scam senior citizens like this should get lethal injection. I'm not even being facetious. If we assign this penalty for murdering one person, why not for destroying the lives of thousands of vulnerable people?

pavel_lishin 7y ago
You're being downvoted, but I hear where you're coming from. Phone scammers make my blood boil like little else does.
- crag 7y ago
  I don't know why he was downloaded. I mean, come too Florida and talk to some 80 year old guy who has nothing, due to being scammed or ID theft. Frankly, be better if you just killed the guy. Now this guy has to decide between food and meds because his SSI doesn't cover it all. And his savings are gone.
  - i_am_nomad 7y ago
    I’m with you on that. Lethal injection is too good for the perpetrators - I say, Death of the Boats.
  - paggle 7y ago
    I was downvoted because the same people who have the influence to legalize their crimes have the influence to make the public believe that it is right and proper.
    - pavel_lishin 7y ago
      That is absolutely not why you were downvoted.
      - paggle 7y ago
        Read Alex Karakatsanis

gumby 7y ago

One of the things I like about Plant money is that they have transcripts for all their podcasts. I used to listen when I was a driver, but now I don't I can just read the transcript in a few minutes instead of spending 20 minutes or so listening.

giarc 7y ago
Increase playback speed. You'd be surprised how your hearing can adjust. Just work your way up in small increments. Just be prepared that if you ever go back to 1x speed, it sounds really weird.
- gumby 7y ago
  I did that when I was listening, but really I just have a problem with listening to people droning on. It's just so much faster, more visceral, and more random access to read that I've basically just completely abandoned the linear presentation modes (audio and video). Podcasts also tend to have a lot of side chitchat, breaks etc which don't add anything for me. I know some people really like that; I've hear it makes the conversation seem a lot more personal and connecting. Great, just not for me.
- fencepost 7y ago
  Up to 1.4 is not a big deal, somewhere around 1.5 or starts to get a little strange. Since I generally have technical or industry related podcasts going while doing other things too high a speed becomes a hindrance.
  - liability 7y ago
    Try out rubberband. I find that with rubberband and mpv I can get close to 3x and still understand many (but not all) speakers. It depends on their particular accent/annunciation/cadence though. Some accents, like RP, are very clear to me at 1x but degrade more rapidly (for me) than others at high speeds. https://breakfastquay.com/rubberband/ https://breakfastquay.com/rubberband/

grendelt 7y ago

Great story but a little anticlimactic. It's like yadda-yadda-yadda, he gets arrested and goes to prison. That's it? The story is just an IT guy that tells US authorities before he takes on a job with scammers and is then a mole? It's neat and all, but not a totally captivating tale. If you haven't heard it, this is a good one: https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/6nh3wk https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/6nh3wk

jscholes 7y ago
> We found these guys who live in Bradford, England who are setting up websites and companies so that they can process money for Accostings in the UK. I'm from Bradford - this is not at all surprising.

Smithalicious 7y ago

I simply do not pick up unexpected phone calls. If it's actually important, they'll leave a message saying who they are, and I will look up the number for that organisation and call them back.

cryptozeus 7y ago

What a crazy life ! Great read. So what know the guys is out and will scam again?

cosmodisk 7y ago

We don't have IT scams like this in Lithuania,as nobody ever pays for IT support,they just get someone they know to do it for free. However massive prize scams used to be quite popular and still are to certain degree today. Scammer calls a victim and claims he's calling from a radio show,some company, events organiser, whatever.Then obviously comes the part where he saya that the victim won x,y,z and all they. need to do is to buy some prepaid topup cards for mobile( these usually have a code on them that needs to be used to add credit) and tell the con artist those codes,for "verification purposes" or whatever the reason of the day is. This was many years ago. One day,a friend of mine gets home and his dad,a surgeon, shouts across the room: Anthony,we won!!!!we won it all!!My friend: what? Yeah,we won!! HI-Fi system, a vacuum cleaner and I think a washing masine as well!!!Yeah! My friend,still being quite confused about his dad's instant gains: what are you talking about, where's this coming from? Well,the guy called from the radio,they ran a game and we won.Anthony, here's some money(it was at least a couple weeks wage),go to the shop across the road and buy topup cards,will you? My friend looked at his dad and said: dad, shut up and go back to bed.

intarga 7y ago
> get someone they know to do it for free. Because people with technology skills should perform free labour for people without...
- saint_fiasco 7y ago
  Labor is cheap in the third world, which is annoying when you are the labor, but fortunately it cuts both ways. Dentistry, hair cuts, cleaning services and excellent food are affordable even on low wages.

tm1265 7y ago

"So his friends at the U.S. Embassy got him a visa and got him to the States, where he works in IT." This stuck out to me. Puerto Ricans are United States citizens and as such do not require any kind of visa to live and work in the states. There isn't even an embassy in Puerto Rico since it is part of the United States. Makes me question the rest of the article.

dointheatl 7y ago
Puerto Rico != Costa Rica, which is the country this story took place in.