Podcast Summary: What the Hack? – Episode 233

Title: How Brett Johnson Made $160,000 a Week
Date: January 6, 2026
Host: Beau Friedlander (DeleteMe)
Guest: Brett Johnson (“Original Internet Godfather”, former cybercriminal, fraud consultant, and public speaker)

Main Theme

This episode delves into the criminal evolution and later redemption of Brett Johnson, a notorious former cybercriminal who once earned $160,000 a week through tax return identity theft and other forms of online fraud. Johnson discusses his criminal history, techniques, personal life changes, and the mechanisms of modern online crime, offering both a cautionary tale and practical insights for online safety.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Brett Johnson’s Criminal Background

• Introduction to Brett’s Notoriety
  Johnson admits responsibility for significant delays in tax returns due to crimes he perpetrated.

  “So the reason that everyone's tax return is delayed to this day is this SOB that's talking right now.”
  (Brett Johnson, 00:06)

• Cybercrime’s Evolution: ShadowCrew and the Dark Web
  Johnson ran ShadowCrew, a precursor to today’s Darknet marketplaces, facilitating crimes such as credit card fraud, phishing, and identity theft on a global scale.

  “Shadow Crew is absolutely that precursor of today's Darknet and Darknet Markets”
  (Brett, 06:35)

• Relationship with Law Enforcement

  • After his arrest, Johnson worked as an informant with the Secret Service—while secretly continuing to commit crimes for nearly a year even from inside their office.

    “I continue to break the law from inside Secret Service offices for the next 10 months.”
    (Brett, 00:46/10:49)

2. Mechanics of Cybercrime

• Tax Return Identity Theft
  Johnson details how he innovated large-scale digital tax refund fraud using identities from public records and how easy access to such data enables widespread scams.

  “I made it online. I made it instead of depositing to a bank account, I started using prepaid debit cards... That fraud is what delays people's tax returns to this day. And that's called tax return identity theft.”
  (Brett, 17:10)

• Value of Personal Data (“Lead Gen” for Crime)
  The host and guest discuss how criminals combine various sources: dark web dumps, people search sites, and public records to build victim profiles.

  “Everyone's information is available... I can go on the dark web, I can buy someone's complete identity... Then you go to a people search site... You get the background check, maybe of all the associates.”
  (Brett, 26:24)

• Scaling the Scams
  Johnson would manually file a fraudulent tax return every six minutes, then use ATMs to cash out prepaid cards—all possible due to the abundance of accessible victim information.

  “I got to where I could manually file a tax return once every six minutes... Friday and Saturday, I'd take those prepaid debit cards... and cash them out at ATMs.”
  (Brett, 23:41)

3. Psychological Manipulation & Social Engineering

• Exploiting Emotional States
  Cybercriminals target people at times of transition—divorce, loneliness, stress—when logic is easiest to bypass.

  “Cybercriminals hack humanity. Not just code. They weaponize transition states, loneliness, divorce or stress. Because that's the easiest way to bypass logic.”
  (Beau, 45:48)

• The Power of “Make Believe”
  Success in scams comes from giving just enough plausible information to let victims believe what they want, often leveraging public data for credibility.

  “If you want to believe that I have that beanie baby... it only takes me the slightest reason... The perception of truth is more important than the truth itself. Facts don't matter. What matters is what I can convince you of.”
  (Brett, 38:44)

• Illusion of Choice
  Victims often think they're making informed decisions, when, in reality, they’re being subtly manipulated by criminals.

  “I'm manipulating that individual into a choice that they don't know they're being manipulated into.”
  (Brett, 38:18)

4. Personal Life, Choices, and Redemption

• Life Changes and Vulnerabilities
  Johnson candidly discusses his divorce, noting that personal upheavals make people more susceptible to scams.

  “Life changes, like a divorce, are a prime time for people to get scammed.”
  (Beau, 01:51)

• The Psychology of “Should” vs. “Will” Actions
  Johnson challenges the notion of “should”—advocating self-awareness and acceptance of reality over wishful thinking, both in life and cybersecurity.

  “Should is a thinking error... What matters is what you are actually doing... When you start saying should, you start to dismiss that person... and you don't see that individual as the person that they actually are.”
  (Brett, 32:13)

• Criminal Mindset vs. Rational Security Training
  Johnson argues that security training must address emotional manipulation, not just logic and policies.

  “I'm not really big on security awareness training ... as an attacker, I'm getting you to set aside reason, logic, rationale, and to react emotionally.”
  (Brett, 44:21)

5. Defensive Action Steps

• Takeaways and Tinfoil Swan Segment
  • Develop situational awareness; recognize when you’re at risk emotionally.
  • Don’t trust just because things seem familiar—data from people searches are often used to fake credibility.
  • Change digital hygiene (passwords, shared locations, account access) after major life events.
  • Set your social media profiles to private and remove unnecessary personal information from the web.
  • Security behaviors must become habits, not just rational recommendations.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On the Tools of Crime:

  “Those identities, that's a tool. The stolen credit card data, that's a tool... That’s what I need to then launch the crime...”
  (Brett, 30:01)

• On Victim Empathy:

  “I didn't start caring about victims until I came over to the good guy side and started listening to victims... and having to sit down with these people and say, hey, you're not getting your money back, it's gone.”
  (Brett, 09:48)

• On the Psychology of Scamming:

  “The perception of truth is more important than the truth itself. Facts don't matter. What matters is what I can convince you of.”
  (Brett, 39:01)

• On Emotional Blind Spots:

  “If someone wants to believe something, they tend to shut out anyone who disagrees or who might disrupt that belief.”
  (Brett, 40:31)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:06] – Johnson claims responsibility for delayed tax returns
• [06:35] – Creation of ShadowCrew and its crimes
• [10:49] – Continuing crime inside the Secret Service
• [17:10] – The mechanics and impact of tax return identity theft
• [23:41] – Making $160,000 a week and how crimes scale
• [26:24] – How criminals gather and use personal data
• [30:01] – The “Three Necessities of Cybercrime”
• [32:13] – The “should” thought error and facing reality
• [38:18] – Manipulating the victim’s illusion of choice
• [44:21] – Security training’s failure to address emotional manipulation
• [45:48] – Practical defensive advice (Tinfoil Swan)

Tone and Style

The episode was candid, darkly humorous, and direct, with both participants using frank, at times irreverent language. Johnson alternates between self-deprecating admissions and critical analysis of his past, while consistently grounding technical concepts in relatable stories and emotional realities.

Conclusion

Brett Johnson’s story is both a confessional and a masterclass in cybercrime mechanics and psychology. His journey from “POS” career criminal to global security educator underscores the critical importance of recognizing the emotional drivers of victimization. The episode calls for heightened situational awareness, regular digital hygiene, and a sober, honest appraisal of both people and risks—at work and at home.

Memorable Takeaway:

“You need to develop situational awareness. Brett was just talking about it. It’s your biggest vulnerability out there. What, not paying attention? No, it’s your emotional state, right? So you, you gotta kill the should error. Stop focusing on how things should be. Right?”
(Beau, 45:48)