What I meant is that if someone doesn't have a moral problem with breaking the law, US tech wages are more likely to sway them towards the right path (just because of the risk aversity) than EU wages where IT isn't well-compensated.

I know as well because when starting my career I had to make a choice - if it wasn't for a stroke of luck I may have had to pick the wrong path out of desperation (whether I would've made it anywhere is another question - sounds like you looked into it farther than I did).

Thankfully everything worked out and I haven't needed to be on the wrong side of the law, but this was down to luck - you can very well have the skills that would pay well in the criminal world while being stuck in a situation where you can't get much out of those skills in the legal world, so I disagree with the idea that having those skills automatically gives you the option to make a good living legally.