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Re:I brought down a scamming operation with 15 bytes of PHP by eliseomartelli on Thursday September 07, 2023 @06:09AM (#37416824)
Author here. I did wrong. And I'm sorry I didn't stay on the right side of the law.

I advise against doing the thing I did. I know it can be found on archive.org.

I removed the post so people don't follow it for "guidance" on how to break the law. Sorry to everyone.

I wish I could remove this post from hacker news. It is a dark page for me today.

Re:I brought down a scamming operation with 15 bytes of PHP by ta1243 on Thursday September 07, 2023 @06:22AM (#37416916)
You did fine in the action (breaking the law isn't the end of the world), just a little naive over the consequences.

They're back online

https://uniquemost.online/home.php

I expect it will all blow over.

Being a vigilante is great, but there's a reason Batman has a secret identity

Re:I brought down a scamming operation with 15 bytes of PHP by comprev on Thursday September 07, 2023 @06:31AM (#37416981)
Probably he doesn't have planning permission for the Bat Cave and wants to keep it hush-hush
Re:I brought down a scamming operation with 15 bytes of PHP by eliseomartelli on Thursday September 07, 2023 @06:29AM (#37416969)
I don't think I did fine in the action, tbh. It was not my job to do such thing.
Re:I brought down a scamming operation with 15 bytes of PHP by ta1243 on Thursday September 07, 2023 @07:40AM (#37417501)
Many people do good things that are not their job, the worst thing that could come out of this is that you lose your drive and curiosity and start playing things safe.
Re:I brought down a scamming operation with 15 bytes of PHP by vorticalbox on Thursday September 07, 2023 @07:17AM (#37417311)
have been poking about some of the form inputs have names like `_mc4wp_honeypot`
Re:I brought down a scamming operation with 15 bytes of PHP by gnfargbl on Thursday September 07, 2023 @06:18AM (#37416879)
FWIW, I don't think you should worry too much.

I'm not at all familiar with the Italian justice system, but it's hard to imagine that anyone is going to investigate this case unless the injured party complains -- which they aren't going to do, because they were committing a crime themselves at the time.

Just let this post drop away, learn from it, move on. Don't let it spoil your day.

Re:I brought down a scamming operation with 15 bytes of PHP by some_furry on Thursday September 07, 2023 @06:22AM (#37416919)
I've flagged the story to help it vanish faster. I encourage others do the same.

Do you have anyone that can mentor you on such matters? This whole thing has a vibe of self-taught about it. I recommend finding someone older and more experienced to talk to... if for no other reason, than to avoid making mistakes that can put you in legal jeopardy.

That being said, I don't think anyone here thinks you're a bad person for wanting to clap back at scammers. We just want to emphasize caution and working within the law.

If you feel lost or alone, the community here is full of hackers of all stripes (and spots, and scales, and ...). You'll find someone you can vibe with pretty easily.

Re:I brought down a scamming operation with 15 bytes of PHP by eliseomartelli on Thursday September 07, 2023 @06:25AM (#37416944)
I don't have any mentor at the moment. I'll avoid doing such things and exercise more caution while handling this kind of matter.

Thank you for flagging

Re:I brought down a scamming operation with 15 bytes of PHP by gnfargbl on Thursday September 07, 2023 @06:32AM (#37416987)
I'm not advocating for you to use it or not use it, but I wanted to make you aware that archive.org do have a mechanism for accepting requests for removal: https://help.archive.org/help/how-do-i-request-to-remove-som...
Re:I brought down a scamming operation with 15 bytes of PHP by comprev on Thursday September 07, 2023 @06:32AM (#37416993)
You can learn these skills in "safe space" environments like TryHackMe.

Learning both offensive and defensive skills is useful for general security awareness when building software.