Based Camp - Terrorists & Crime Lords Discover Gig Work (Immediately Build Child Army)

00:00:00.000 hello malcolm i'm excited to be speaking with you today because did you know that iraqis and

00:00:06.160 crime syndicates and mexican cartels are using signal groups and whatsapp and also like i don't

00:00:11.440 know fortnite and when you told me about this this morning you're like oh yeah crime groups

00:00:18.840 have started using gig work and i'm like oh cool you mean like in westworld too like i said i've 0.99

00:00:23.500 got bills to pay make money motherfuckers 0.96

00:00:27.060 I've got to get my stats up. 1.00

00:00:47.360 Do more personals.

00:00:48.740 You do personals?

00:00:50.640 You should. 0.99

00:00:53.000 Your stats are shitty, man. 1.00

00:00:54.940 I don't get it. 0.99

00:00:55.920 i'm an underachiever i think we should keep moving i don't want to be locked together

00:01:01.700 relax i'm gonna go somewhere since i walked up in here

00:01:04.620 and she's like yeah and guess who's doing it mostly and i was like i don't know like and

00:01:12.460 she's like mostly terrorist networks and then it's worse it's worse because who are they

00:01:17.100 recruiting at least in the west world like arc where they were using like apps to do crimes

00:01:22.000 it was adults what they're using instead is like 11 to 14 year olds why because for these people

00:01:30.020 one they're like they can't really think through it that well but also they're not going to be

00:01:36.780 put away for life or executed for their crimes so to them also even just logically the price

00:01:44.640 of doing this you know if you and i were asked like hey you know what do you need in terms of

00:01:49.580 payment to firebomb a building we'd be like well probably a lot of money you know even if there's

00:01:54.520 like no one inside it must make it hurt like i know we don't have our price but for firebombing

00:01:59.600 a building it's pretty high for me yeah i mean and this is assuming that we are sociopaths we

00:02:05.920 don't care about the human cost and we're just worried about our liability but the liability

00:02:09.480 for minors in most countries is super low so for them it's like yeah i'll take 20 grand for that

00:02:17.240 let's go like i've always wanted to firebomb my building anyway most miners would think that that

00:02:22.600 was like an interesting and fun thing like especially if you're going to kill someone

00:02:26.160 right imagine so i mean it's also very smart you're playing grand theft auto like you're

00:02:32.000 already pre-selected for being kind of like interested in recreational and committing acts

00:02:36.460 of violence or crimes right and then like someone starts chatting with you and they're like hey and

00:02:42.200 they're like look look tough you know like there's some kind of profile picture with them in a

00:02:45.560 bulletproof vest or something. Right. And they're like, Hey kid, you want to, you want to do some

00:02:50.360 crime? And it's like, first you're, you're doing the lookout, but it's like, Hey, you're getting

00:02:55.580 like $200 a week and stuff. Right. And like, this is real money for a kid that, you know,

00:03:00.940 isn't legally allowed to get a job. Like I was recently looking at how old our kids have to be

00:03:05.940 in order to get a job. Cause our son really wants to work at tractor supply. It's like his top

00:03:10.620 ambition and becoming an employee at tractor supply like i think even at age 16 is which is

00:03:16.800 when you can start to work in the state of pennsylvania where we are like it can only be for

00:03:21.040 like family businesses and like not really a job like it's bad so for a 14 year old 11 year old

00:03:28.220 kid who like can't get cash anywhere else who likes playing grand theft auto and some cool

00:03:33.160 tough guy is like talking you up and being like hey i'll give you a job i need you to be a lookout

00:03:38.760 and you feel like oh i'm being given missions it's all on like secret encrypted apps i'm getting

00:03:44.860 money like yeah it's kind of a no-brainer i mean you don't have the judgment to know that this is

00:03:50.640 super bad and wrong and dangerous and a slippery slope bombing of buildings thing isn't a hypothetical

00:03:56.680 it's something that has actually been done multiple times yeah so i'm gonna go through the the actual

00:04:02.120 like both tactics like what's actually going on plus like the cases of this happening i have

00:04:08.080 I have examples of terrorism I have example of cartels I have kids moving drugs moving tons of

00:04:15.320 really dangerous stuff around we're good this is so cool I just take a step back from this for a

00:04:21.000 second how can we get our kids in on this or get into this ourselves is there is there some

00:04:27.200 utilization of this that I just haven't thought through yet the problem how do we recruit children

00:04:33.780 on fortnight to get them to do the problem is that even extremist pronatalism is just so

00:04:41.680 constructive you know that there isn't really any sort of terroristic activity that would be of

00:04:47.520 utility to even the most extremists of our movement right it's notable though like you

00:04:51.520 start to think about it like even from a child labor standpoint like if you're willing to

00:04:55.700 you know recruit illegal child labor like clearly there are there are pathways to doing it

00:05:03.060 there and this isn't just another like piece of evidence pointing to the fact that children want

00:05:08.720 to work children want jobs okay i've got it i've got it what what pronatalist terrorism looks like

00:05:14.400 is basically the anime shimoneta explaining to people that real sex exists and they should be

00:05:21.120 out there doing it right you know very subversive in our society compared to what they think sex is

00:05:33.060 Oh my God. Okay. I'm just, we're going to start at the very beginning of how I learned about this

00:05:44.600 from one of our base camp community members. This goes out to you about the Iraqi crime 1.00

00:05:49.800 syndicate that is terrorizing Melbourne, Australia, which is insane. And I'd not 1.00

00:05:56.080 heard about until this very morning. So let me set the scene. What's happening basically is an

00:06:01.280 Iraqi-based organized crime syndicate that's often linked to figures like Qasem Hamad, also

00:06:08.480 referred to as the cartel, is directing, or strongly suspected, in a big wave of extortion

00:06:15.660 and firebombings and shootings and other related acts of violence that are targeting businesses

00:06:20.680 in Melbourne, like especially nightclubs, but not just nightclubs. It's getting a lot worse,

00:06:26.860 and that's why this person listening to our podcast was bringing it up. He's like,

00:06:30.460 i'd really like you to talk about how much worse crime is now in australia like it's it's getting

00:06:35.000 to the point where citizens are like hey can like someone can someone check this out like

00:06:39.700 i'm getting scared and it's it really started getting worse around 2023 with what are referred

00:06:47.160 to as the tobacco wars which were sort of if the tobacco wars in australia involve australia being

00:06:54.920 one of the highest tobacco or like cigarette tax countries in the entire world which on the

00:07:01.160 surface of course sounds like a good idea right like oh we don't want people to die of lung cancer

00:07:05.620 maybe we should tax cigarettes but then oh then like motorcycle games start selling illegal 0.87

00:07:10.980 cigarettes and then like then or you know iraq is going to literally get the smokers from the 0.59

00:07:16.540 movie water world oh my god they australia can't stop like making road warrior happen

00:07:22.220 how about smokes uh zero zero zero smokes i remember when this used to be fun

00:07:29.800 how long has it been we've had a really good crusade i know i know tell me how long oh

00:07:36.560 i don't know i remember uh there used to be a tolls on every horizon

00:07:43.020 where the hell are they all going well when we talk at you

00:07:49.300 every time we cover australia oh my god it's smokers what is happening i didn't even think

00:07:56.900 of that when i read this i love it though the aesthetics i mean like yes make go australia go

00:08:03.800 but get this what there are no iraqis one of our weekend episodes we're pointing out that australia

00:08:09.400 is running out of oil right now and is in a really bad position and they're basically already at

00:08:15.080 Looks like I've got to sell some gasoline, eh?

00:08:17.620 Eh?

00:08:18.760 Eh?

00:08:20.340 But continue.

00:08:22.000 Anyway, as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald,

00:08:26.080 Qasem Hamad, he's an Iraqi-born Australian

00:08:29.420 who was deported in 2023,

00:08:31.740 and his associates in Baghdad,

00:08:33.680 so they're not gone in Australia,

00:08:35.080 but 8,000 miles away,

00:08:37.700 are alleged to orchestrate operations remotely.

00:08:41.860 Hamad himself was arrested in Iraq in early 2026, like this year, per Australia's request.

00:08:48.300 Australia's like, hey, this guy's like a really big problem.

00:08:51.280 Can you please arrest him?

00:08:52.520 And they did.

00:08:53.300 And then threats and directions, they come in from his associates and maybe him too via

00:09:00.500 encrypted apps, mostly Signal.

00:09:02.920 Like they use WhatsApp to send the extortion messages, but they use Signal for the work.

00:09:08.140 Okay.

00:09:08.280 so let's just go through you know like they have different purposes using this in a very

00:09:12.200 you know organized fashion oh one second sorry it's me it's the fertility company hello this is

00:09:18.620 simone for example in in baghdad who are sending orders to australia to like their distributed

00:09:28.700 network of child street urchins is is another relatively young 23 year old australian but he

00:09:35.060 again is in iraq so this is this is people very remotely organizing these crime rings the guardian

00:09:41.760 reports on how street level crews who are often teenagers very young offenders are recruited via

00:09:47.360 encrypted messaging apps to carry out attacks and the organized crime figures often in iraq are

00:09:53.360 assigning contracts to local heads of street crews so you kind of like make your way up in the ranks

00:09:59.180 you know who then like will use local youths or foot as foot soldiers and it's the youths who

00:10:05.220 commit the arson and the burglaries and the intimidation police have arrested tons of teens

00:10:10.780 some are as young as 13 in in these cases in australia in connection with the incidents and

00:10:17.620 it is something that's relatively new in australia so they're really learning how to begin contending

00:10:25.260 with like all of these really uniquely young people doing this stuff like normally i think

00:10:32.120 people are accustomed to like you know adult biker kings for example like where the tobacco

00:10:36.280 war started like okay it's these scary scary adults right yeah but nothing scarier than a

00:10:41.800 teenager was nothing to lose right well yeah and i think that's the thing is you don't expect these

00:10:45.640 in like sort of developed countries you know where like there's universal public school and like

00:10:52.280 there's not widespread impoverishment like you would expect crime involved sea urchins and not

00:10:56.900 sea urchins oh my god street urchins the urchins watch out for them too though in like india where 0.61

00:11:04.900 there's widespread poverty and there's just a ton of kids out on the streets like in some areas

00:11:08.380 right and we've both traveled in countries where like kids get addicted to their pickpocketing

00:11:14.140 rings and stuff like not in australia so like the police really don't know how to deal with this

00:11:19.020 quite yet but it's it is getting quite extreme because whereas before it was just like small

00:11:25.440 kind of local crime stuff now it's fire bombings it's shootings and these attacks are meant to

00:11:35.640 force businesses including tobacco shops bars nightclubs and restaurants to basically pay

00:11:42.220 protection or taxes a lot of people are calling it the cas tax after that iraqi like basically

00:11:49.400 terrorist and then they're also forcing them to stock illicit products like you have to stock my

00:11:55.840 illegal cigarettes or else and and sometimes they're you know charging them really high prices

00:12:00.720 for the illegal stock and if if they don't if they don't stock their cigarettes if they don't

00:12:06.420 pay the tax so they invented the mob but outsourced yeah it's it's like yeah well it's it's more like

00:12:14.200 the mob but i don't have to leave my house and i'm just gonna have like teenagers you know the

00:12:19.160 actual crimes because they're not gonna you know go to jail for life for it and that they'll be

00:12:24.500 much more likely to do it they don't know better yeah and it it's just i mean it's kind of clever

00:12:32.400 when you think about it right i'm massive respect for them honestly i'm even thinking like how do

00:12:39.700 you even hypothetically fight against something like this right that's that actually that's like

00:12:44.480 the scariest thing about it is i mean so they australia was able to get this guy arrested and

00:12:51.020 then after he got out there was a 68 spike in crime like it's very clear that when you put away

00:12:58.200 very specific people you can for example take out a decent chunk of crime in like isolated cases or

00:13:07.180 certain crime i think is and this is the reality of it i mean 68 tied to one guy right this is 0.98

00:13:13.500 australia being a pussy if this stuff was happening in freaking tel aviv we know what would happen to 0.99

00:13:19.000 this guy in like four days okay and it would be public and brutal in some ways so everyone else 1.00

00:13:26.500 knew don't do this right they need to start acting like the jews and just killing people 0.99

00:13:33.760 who annoy them and people are like you couldn't do that on an international stage do you know 0.99

00:13:39.460 it's the only realistic way to deal with something like this uh at a government level and this guy 0.93

00:13:45.420 isn't even a citizen he's an outsider whatever we're allowed to kill non-citizens right like

00:13:48.920 our government can kill any he was i think he was australian born and then he was like deported to 0.58

00:13:54.780 i i can't remember but i'll tell you what if i was president you know i think we need to to be

00:14:00.800 far more aggressive about dealing with this sort of stuff well let's talk about how it's done okay

00:14:05.180 so the way it works if you're gonna be uh remote work crime boss is you use at least in the case

00:14:12.840 of like this iraqi crime syndicate that you use signal to both recruit and then assign tasks to

00:14:19.200 local youths in your crime networks i there there's one signal group for example that was

00:14:26.960 associated with these ones in australia just called jobs where you just like go look for like

00:14:31.500 a job you know just like you know hey hundred dollars be a lookout you know five hundred

00:14:36.100 dollars like rough someone up jobs yeah just don't beat this guy up yeah you know give jobs to the

00:14:42.160 youth the offers range from like a few hundred dollars to a thousand to over twenty thousand

00:14:47.340 dollars for significant attacks like a venue firebombing would get you something more in the

00:14:52.240 20k range because you know you gotta buy supplies you have to plan it you know there's probably more

00:14:56.840 liability but not if you're like you know if you're super young what are you gonna do like

00:15:00.740 imagine your home life sucks already like maybe your parents are there's not food like all these

00:15:07.060 things and then like you go to like some kind of juvenile prison which you know depending on the

00:15:12.560 country or it could be pretty decent you're out when you're like 21 years old like the other the

00:15:19.540 other good thing about this and good way to deal with this and it's shocking to me that they're

00:15:24.060 not doing this well is as soon as you catch one person doing this you can find out where they've

00:15:29.760 gotten the job from and then basically just infiltrate the network right yeah spoof the

00:15:36.100 accounts of the bad actors and just act like them. That's exactly how this goes. A lot of these

00:15:42.540 things are discovered through massive sting operations. I'm going to go into in a little

00:15:47.400 bit some examples of ways that law enforcement has uncovered and also taken back and arrested

00:15:54.180 so let's go into some other modern organized crime using these distributed methods. I think

00:16:02.060 the more the more impressive ones even more impressive than this this whole iraqi child 0.61

00:16:06.960 crime network are most of these people what are they ethnically the kids that they target are

00:16:12.500 they mostly white kids you know that's not specified i think it's one of those things

00:16:15.740 like how in the if it's not specified if it's not specified they're muslim if they were white

00:16:21.860 they'd be lynching that all over the articles maybe yeah oh my god it does not show up in the 0.51

00:16:28.720 articles okay give me everybody knows news code now suspect race not mentioned means the suspect

00:16:36.620 is either black or muslim suspect race mentioned means they're white so the the most impressive

00:16:41.920 players in my opinion which shouldn't be any surprise is the mexican drug cartels so cartels 0.86

00:16:47.720 like the jalisco new generation and sinaloa excel at this kind of tech enabled remote operation

00:16:56.200 they post fake ad jobs like i'm looking for a security guard on facebook or instagram which

00:17:02.900 i could totally see this and then they shift the recruits to whatsapp and signal

00:17:07.580 for training and assignments and they do a little bit of a bait and switch like yeah it's a security

00:17:12.480 guard lookout guy like what's the really what's the difference don't you need money don't you need

00:17:18.080 money though i mean you're responding to a job ad on instagram for real like you think you're

00:17:22.580 going to get a better job um and they're already filtering there with the type of people who are

00:17:26.860 responding to job ads on instagram yeah and even better filtering is how they're using games like

00:17:32.200 fortnite and call of duty and gta 5 for recruiting because one you're getting kids and two and also

00:17:41.740 they're doing this at like 2 a.m so you're like in fortnite 2 a.m finding kids like these are kids

00:17:48.180 who are like they enjoy a little bit of like violent role play especially like gta so per

00:17:54.760 insight crime the recruiters will join public multiplayer sessions or lobbies really late at

00:18:01.240 night when it's expected like parents aren't really watching or you know these are kids whose parents

00:18:07.100 just aren't there who aren't disciplined enough to keep tabs on their kids which is perfect like

00:18:11.840 the selection criteria there is just so clever i think and then they they'll dm them or send

00:18:18.060 them a friend request or group invite using the in-game chat and they will have profiles or

00:18:25.480 profile images that feature really like intimidating imagery or something really glamorous

00:18:31.580 to a kid so you know like cartel symbols or weapons or something right like a buff guy or

00:18:39.020 something like andrew tate style you know what i mean you know what i mean and then they'll like

00:18:43.480 sort of love bomb them you know cult style like be like oh you're really good this game you want

00:18:48.800 to do it for real oh that sounds spicy i mean i hear about a money-making opportunity i'm always

00:18:56.140 just like is this something we can make a few bucks off oh god stop you know um and then they'll

00:19:03.340 they'll promise you know money and adventure and guns and cars and status and they might frame it

00:19:09.460 as a job like a security guard or a lookout so like they might even pretend it's fairly like

00:19:16.040 above board for a little bit or they might even frame it as like an event for some kind of virtual

00:19:22.400 recruitment drive and then they play together like they build rapport they become friends

00:19:28.400 and then they transition to private chat so they get them off fortnite or gta5 and they get them

00:19:34.840 onto discord or twitch or whatsapp or signal and then they switch to exploiting vulnerabilities so

00:19:42.760 abc4 reports that the they really go for super isolated or bored youths who are fascinated by

00:19:51.640 violence or weapons which is why they really go for the shooter games they also really go for kids

00:19:57.640 from low-income backgrounds because for those kids and they can even make this argument like

00:20:02.440 hey look juvenile prison is going to be better than your home environment and in many ways it

00:20:07.520 probably is so the kids are like yeah this is a win well not just that but juvenile prison

00:20:12.540 that you go into with being in on one of the gangs yeah like yeah exactly like you understand you you

00:20:20.260 get there day one you've got a friend network you're already kind of cool yeah like i'm a

00:20:24.300 sinaloa kid like yeah it's yeah you're one of the you're one of the cool kids yeah it's like

00:20:29.100 your auto in that's that's pretty interesting payment per week is i i think really impressive

00:20:33.840 like my allowance when i did a lot of chores i think at the height of it was it started at five

00:20:41.360 dollars a week and i think the most was ever 20 i never got more than five dollars a week yeah i

00:20:46.980 think five dollars a week was the most yeah like i would i think most of my money from pet sitting

00:20:51.020 these kids are getting over 200 a week for low level roles like lookouts so the pay is good

00:20:58.440 yeah right so like you you're doing pretty easy work you're just being a lookout and then they're

00:21:04.760 like hey you know you're really good at this you want to do more and you're like yeah yes i want

00:21:10.460 to do more like this is this is life-changing money for a kid you know you you people forget

00:21:16.340 being a kid can be fun sure but like being a kid can also really suck you don't get determined

00:21:21.780 what you eat, where you live, what you do on a daily basis. 0.52

00:21:26.340 And nobody treats you with respect.

00:21:28.100 Yeah, no one believes you.

00:21:29.520 No one treats you with respect.

00:21:30.660 And here you are, you're earning real money.

00:21:34.140 It's very game-changing for a kid.

00:21:37.020 And then they escalate.

00:21:38.760 So once you're hooked, and I imagine it's very easy to get hooked,

00:21:42.500 recruits can start to receive travel instructions

00:21:45.480 or small tasks turn into smuggling runs.

00:21:49.520 and this nonprofit, this like think tank that looks at crime and does a lot of investigation

00:21:55.360 called In Crime, they report that cartels like CJNG in Sinaloa or Cartel del Noreste are linked

00:22:03.560 to these types of recruiting efforts. Like the biggest players are doing this and it always

00:22:09.160 starts small. Like you're a messenger or you're a lookout and then they become big. Like you are

00:22:13.920 transporting you know possibly millions of dollars worth of drugs or you are killing people so there

00:22:20.460 are some examples that have been fairly prominently covered that the most famously covered is a 21

00:22:26.140 2021 case in oaxaca mexico there were three boys aged 11 to 14 11 years old that were recruited

00:22:35.780 via garena free fire this is a battle royale game similar to fortnite i don't think it's something

00:22:42.280 It's an English language game. The recruiter posed as like another kid and then offered them jobs as lookouts with weekly pay. And then the recruiter bought them bus tickets to northern Mexico.

00:22:56.240 This is the point at which, thank goodness, the boys were intercepted.

00:23:01.280 But then similar cases that have also been covered involve girls and other minors that have been lured either for trafficking or cartel work.

00:23:09.620 And this is a very common pattern across games.

00:23:12.340 So it's not like there's one game where this is a problem.

00:23:15.320 Then there's this prominent U.S. and Mexico 2021 to 2022 drug meal problem involving Grand Theft Auto.

00:23:24.040 so one young woman in arizona was recruited while playing grand theft auto online she met a man in

00:23:31.040 the game who offered her a job transporting what she thought were electronics guess what it wasn't

00:23:36.840 done was it drugs yeah it was meth it was meth i love that like the moment i hear it's a girl i'm

00:23:45.340 like oh she's gonna get great she's gonna get sold in the sex i know this is just the happy case

00:23:49.880 yeah this is the positive outcome from girl meets guy from grand theft auto who's in a gang

00:23:56.940 for real yeah no no she was just arrested with 60 kilograms of meth that's all it's fine u.s

00:24:03.540 customs and border protection linked to this to mexican cartels using the game for real world

00:24:08.940 runners but keep in mind this is a young woman in arizona this is not like some you know kid in

00:24:16.040 a poor hovel in mexico or something and then there's another 2021 gta 5 recruitment event

00:24:22.900 there was a teen who received an in-game invite at 3 a.m a virtual let's see

00:24:30.000 reclutamiento al bierto an open recruitment event tied to cartel del noreste and old

00:24:38.940 honestly given how you know the kids these days are so pessimistic about the future

00:24:43.820 you're also nihilistic like yeah really exciting for a lot of kids no it's compelling it's

00:24:49.140 compelling and yeah so this there's basically this thing where you have like on top you have

00:24:53.900 like the actual cartel or gang that i imagine still resembles a proper gang you know you got

00:25:00.000 the tattooed adults or whatever the tough looking scary armenians or arachnids armenians why are you

00:25:07.220 going hard on armenians here because armenians feature prominently in the latest season of 0.94

00:25:13.020 euphoria and they're really scary and they're a lot there's there's there's a lot they had their 0.99

00:25:19.140 white neo-nazi drug runners they're also there's like a black cowboy like sex trafficker essentially 1.00

00:25:28.620 and then there's the the armenians the armenians are the scariest in my opinion but armenians are 0.99

00:25:36.680 the scariest yeah dude watch it you know but it's it's actually good but one of the major themes 1.00

00:25:43.560 and in fact that the the primary protagonist in the latest season of euphoria which is one of the

00:25:48.740 few remaining shows it's kind of like an event show to watch it it starts with her being a drug

00:25:55.380 runner and i was like i don't this is not a very relatable plot but now i'm like oh my god is this

00:26:01.040 like is this a thing that the youths do now is this more relatable for kids than i thought yeah

00:26:07.120 like is this a zeitgeist show i thought this was like uh oh this would be crazy but they're all

00:26:13.600 they're either drug runners or basically sex workers like on only fans and stuff like sydney

00:26:18.320 sweeney's in this if you've seen anything about sydney sweeney like and sex work they're talking

00:26:24.060 about euphoria anyway though this is very zeitgeist like i've genuinely gotten into this

00:26:29.760 had i've been younger i would think it's cool i was really you make money it's it's aversive

00:26:36.700 you're aware of the fact that like the actual opportunity cost for you and the actual risk

00:26:41.920 is relatively low especially in countries i mean it's low assuming that your employer doesn't kill

00:26:48.340 you or get you killed which i think is discounting that i think is where we're going to see this go

00:26:54.560 is so there was a case recently where a kid in turkey and he had built this company when he was

00:27:00.520 in his 20 early 20s so when he was arrested he was like 22 or 23 and so this must have been

00:27:05.580 19 18 something like that when he made this he's like a fat kid from iran and he built a company

00:27:12.600 that made where he scammed people out of i think it was like the farm thing yeah 350 million dollars

00:27:19.140 or something right and he was caught driving like like a ferrari and uruguay or something

00:27:24.600 yeah yeah but anyway the point being is the moment you know some iranian figures this out right in

00:27:32.120 iran right you're gonna get youth that see these sorts of things and are like because this is what

00:27:38.220 i would find me up yeah it's gta 5 but like irl please let's well not just that but like i bet i

00:27:44.860 could run these operations better than these guys i mean now that it's entirely decentralized

00:27:49.740 and i can run this while going to school during the day actually make a movie about this this

00:27:55.840 would be a really entertaining movie it would be a great movie about a kid who's just like a normal

00:28:01.180 kid during the day but but a la like a crime boss by night well i mean this kind of happened with

00:28:08.280 the guy who created silk road right ross ulbricht who got a trump pardon that my favorite trump

00:28:13.880 pardon yeah but imagine someone someone we know i i can't name her i'll tell you at dinner tonight

00:28:20.500 just recently got breakfast with his mom randomly ross over its mom well yeah you're never gonna

00:28:26.580 guess who it is either i i think i know who it is okay our dc friend female no no no you're never

00:28:37.160 i swear to god you're never gonna guess okay the point here being yeah i think one cool anime very

00:28:45.800 very familiar format dude yeah do it in the should i write a story i mean like use whiz ai this would

00:28:54.120 be a great like first story right to i don't know i'm interested in this i'm interested we shouldn't

00:29:00.340 be glam no no bad bad we shouldn't be glamorizing this now i know like i really have to be care

00:29:06.400 like octavian just this morning i want to do like multiplayer online games he wants to play among us

00:29:11.320 he wants to play minecraft now i'm gonna be like oh my god like is someone is someone gonna be

00:29:15.180 recruiting him to become a drug runner if i let him play like multiplayer online game like

00:29:20.440 how how isolated is he are we gonna have to make our family to like actually hold on it to be even

00:29:26.200 cooler about this here's here's an alt strategy you could do right okay it totally changes the

00:29:32.960 way that you can even operate a gang right so right now one of the challenges with operating

00:29:39.120 these is they're often targeting state actors and stuff like that give the cartels like operational

00:29:45.380 advice no like what if you create a sort of distributive cartel that just meant to soak

00:29:52.700 cartel operations for money into supplies like and and because it's completely distributed it's

00:29:58.820 way harder for them to pin down whoever is actually leading things what do you mean like

00:30:05.640 how would this work to be a supplier to them because there are no no you so if they're already

00:30:11.320 doing these sorts of operations and stuff like that you want to be like an agency for the kids

00:30:16.360 to be like i represent them now i take 20 and you're not you you create a counter cartel right

00:30:23.480 that basically exploits the way that they're doing operation on this obviously very upset like you

00:30:29.620 you more effectively recruit the youth no you exploit the way that they are doing this to

00:30:36.460 siphon money from them so this requires a lot of trust from one the youth who are doing this

00:30:44.160 so you can go in and spoof acting like cartel members for example to get people to do things

00:30:51.700 that are counter cartel interests within these particular regions in ways that can make you money

00:30:58.380 through then exploiting organizations and saying oh you pay me x amount you pay me y amount to be

00:31:03.620 safe you could you could run some sort of counter cartel operation actually i wonder if you're doing

00:31:09.560 this in developing countries like targeting let's say big things like mining rigs and stuff like

00:31:16.240 that, I bet you could make decent money with minimal risk of them just not being willing to

00:31:22.320 pay you because the state operation that would come after you in these places is going to be

00:31:26.460 small, right? So if you try to exploit mining facilities and stuff like that in places like

00:31:33.020 Africa and you're doing this well, you could probably do pretty well or large banks and stuff

00:31:37.740 like that. The problem is they already have to worry about generic terrorism. So how far could

00:31:42.600 you go i mean there's countries on like the edge of development so like peru would be an easy place

00:31:47.220 to operate something like this specifically because like historically like if you look at

00:31:51.740 the buildings are really made to be terrorism proof but not anymore i'm just thinking like

00:31:56.740 if a kid was going to do this how would you do it in today's economy well you better figure it out

00:32:05.620 soon because our oldest is going to be 11 soon enough and then you know and you think he's gonna

00:32:12.280 wait till 11 to start this sort of stuff simone fair enough he's really i think he'll be on it at

00:32:17.960 nine with his illegal chicken farming of course that's what he really wants to do daycare yeah

00:32:24.360 like i said all i want to do is work for tractor supply babies at baby chicks he wants to be there

00:32:30.560 for the chicks okay he can't stop picking he's into chicks our kids really into chicks yeah i

00:32:36.700 actually think that this is the other thing i want to take an opportunity to think about before we

00:32:41.120 signing off on this topic there's actually more can i get a little more yeah because this is this

00:32:46.900 is just fascinating stuff just just so you know ice.gov has stuff on this too that i found to be

00:32:53.500 interesting darknet marketplaces like there are successors to the silk road like alpha alpha bay

00:32:59.840 they function like this is why i was confused by what you're proposing like an ebay for illicit

00:33:05.380 goods and services so there are groups that offer crime as a service with different hierarchies

00:33:11.060 and they have reviews and they have escrow payments often in crypto like it's it's more

00:33:15.220 secure they're they're really heavy in eastern europe but and internationally but i mean we

00:33:20.380 could make it you know made in the usa edition you know maga edition maga and then there's there

00:33:25.820 are coders who sell malware there are people who you know handle the like hits and drugs and

00:33:31.820 transport like there's there's a whole economy people specialize but the the core model for gig

00:33:38.800 economy terrorism is also fascinating. And this is the even scarier part, right? Because you were

00:33:44.580 talking about the exploitation of nihilism as part of what makes this so effective and youth

00:33:51.820 nihilism being super high. I think it's extra scary when it's not just, oh, this is like for

00:33:57.040 $200, but also like, oh, I've finally been given meaning in a community. Like you can get someone

00:34:02.600 to do a whole lot more when that happens. So here's how terrorist groups are using these

00:34:08.160 general approaches. There's a George Washington University program on extremism. I pulled some

00:34:14.180 of my sources from there. By the way, all the show notes are in Substack and on Patreon. I've

00:34:19.180 linked all my sources. They're detailed. So go read more there. But the way it works is they

00:34:25.080 will start on platforms like Twitter, I mean, X or Facebook or TikTok or Instagram with like

00:34:31.380 propaganda. And then they shift from there to encrypted messaging. And here's where like

00:34:36.960 telegram is also super heavy but then there's whatsapp still and signal and then there's also

00:34:41.940 apps like sure spot and wicker which i've never heard of before okay but they're i guess good for

00:34:48.120 secure one-on-one small group coordination and then you get handlers assigning specific jobs

00:34:54.440 like conduct a vehicle ramming here or make a bomb with these instructions or film a pledge and attack

00:35:03.860 like really scary stuff and they will provide everything from the logistics to the targets

00:35:10.140 and encouragement they can arrange weapons caches you know it's kind of like paint by numbers just

00:35:16.140 with terrorism which is terrifying they just make it super easy you know like in the past

00:35:22.300 even when you watch spy movies and stuff right like the spies have to do all the work right like

00:35:28.040 it's but now like any kid can become James Bond you know they have like their person who's like

00:35:33.180 don't worry here are your tools here's how to do it all you know and they're they just like

00:35:37.300 but it's so cheap it's so inexpensive and so therefore scalable and this now isn't just about

00:35:44.880 money it's about martyrdom it's about caliphate glory or status then sometimes of course there's

00:35:50.380 financial support too so it's not just it's like crime bounties plus all these other things that

00:35:56.360 can make people do much more dangerous things there are the propaganda magazines that get

00:36:01.500 people really like stoked about doing this stuff that include even like open source jihad tutorials.

00:36:07.680 The Foreign Policy Research Institute has scary stuff on that. So here's some examples of this

00:36:13.140 happening. Back even in 2015 and 2016, there was this plot in India and in Hyderabad. The New York

00:36:21.200 Times reported on this basically remote gig case in which an ISIS handler, a virtual plotter,

00:36:27.900 if you will, guided an engineer named Mohammed Ibrahim Yazdani in a cell for 17 months via

00:36:36.120 messaging apps, detailed stuff. They, they instructed him on collecting hidden explosives

00:36:42.560 and chemicals from drop points and also weapons. They helped him attack or plan his attack in a

00:36:49.760 tech hub. The cell was in near constant contact until they were arrested. And this was not him

00:36:57.520 at all acting alone. I think sometimes when we see reporting on this, it seems like it's just one

00:37:01.100 dude. Yeah. What we're talking about is like, there's this just, he's, this is one dude with

00:37:06.780 a lot of support. Then there were a bunch of Europe attacks between 2014 and 2016. A bunch

00:37:13.700 of virtual plotters directed and or inspired around 19 out of the 38 ISIS related attack

00:37:20.700 attacks that took place in Western Europe during that time. 19 out of 38 is a lot. And they're

00:37:26.660 that they were involved in the 2015 Paris attack, the 2016 Brussels attack, and they used Telegram

00:37:33.300 primarily for coordination. And these people are getting real-time guidance, they're getting bomb

00:37:39.520 making tips, and they're getting target selection. And it's something that, again, it's just not

00:37:44.000 really, I think when we see news coverage of this, it's like, oh, like some rando drove a van into a

00:37:49.800 christmas market and what we're not realizing is this is some brando this is like this is an agent

00:37:57.520 being puppeted by a very sophisticated carefully planning planning cell which is super creepy there

00:38:06.460 was a case in which okay didn't you oh i'll just you know guys go to the show notes because i also

00:38:13.580 wanted to just to briefly talk about how law enforcement is trying to combat this so there's

00:38:20.160 the there's this international association for the chiefs of police which i find to be very cute for

00:38:25.900 some reason and i fell down a rabbit hole with them but they were are they like do they look

00:38:30.920 like stereotypical police chiefs is it like goofy and like it's just cute i just like i see them

00:38:36.260 like going like i just imagine them going to the little police chief convention and being like

00:38:41.480 i'm the chief i'm the chief it's bad just i don't know i just find i don't know why i find it so

00:38:47.600 endearing but i do but they they say that platforms like encrochat sky eccc phantom secure and others

00:38:55.260 are some of the like bespoke crime only platforms that have been created by especially european but

00:39:03.720 also like other international syndicates for use so instead of only just using signal and telegram

00:39:10.440 and WhatsApp, they have developed these like specific dedicated bits of software, which I

00:39:15.260 find to be interesting. These have been used by the Italian mafia, by Albanian groups, drug cartels

00:39:20.560 and motorcycle gangs. And they've been used to coordinate drug shipments and do contract killings

00:39:26.360 and like torture, money laundering. And law enforcement has for the most part infiltrated

00:39:33.320 these or shut them down. Like in 2020, they shut down EncroTrat. And this also led to dozens of

00:39:40.420 arrests in europe and beyond so the danger in creating a dedicated crime software is that like

00:39:47.080 you're going to become the number one target as soon as law enforcement learns about you and they

00:39:51.240 will because they will eventually get someone to snitch by basically being like you're going to

00:39:56.520 jail for life unless you you know become a stitch and yeah they're catching people planning murders

00:40:03.220 they're catching people like coordinating torture sessions it's horrible here's my favorite fbi

00:40:09.760 sting that happened what does the FBI think they're like I have a great idea let's just

00:40:15.160 build one of these and just tell everyone hey guys I got the new I got the new software platform 0.68

00:40:23.140 for crime kind of to come on here and so they created Anom A-N-O-M I'm sure it's standard it's

00:40:29.820 for something but it was a fake encrypted platform that criminals adopted globally like they got over

00:40:35.600 12,000 devices in over 100 countries that enabled remote coordination by the Italian mafia and

00:40:42.300 outlaw motorcycle gangs and drug syndicates. And then in 2021, after they felt content that

00:40:47.900 they had enough people on their platform, they committed what they called Operation Trojan

00:40:54.400 Shield, which resulted in over 800 arrests. And you can read more about it. The FBI has

00:41:00.660 yeah there's an article called fbi's encrypted phone platform infiltrated hundreds of criminal

00:41:06.820 syndicates result is massive worldwide takedown so there is hope there's hope that these things

00:41:12.700 can result in some form of justice and the great thing about there being all this documentation

00:41:20.120 on signal and telegram and whatnot is like okay yeah as much as these are you know encrypted

00:41:25.900 chats people take screenshots people take pictures of their phone even when you can't take a

00:41:31.380 screenshot in an app like there are ways that you know if something is on a device if something is

00:41:36.660 ever written down it can be documented if something is uttered honestly around any kind of device you

00:41:42.480 know so that that is a thing but I think for this reason I most of the current major crime syndicates

00:41:50.700 and organizations are using a constellation of apps which is why you're hearing like oh well 0.89

00:41:55.780 the Iraqis are using WhatsApp for extortion messages, but Signal to coordinate with their 0.89

00:41:59.900 like teen criminals. And they're using, instead of Lois, using Fortnite. Like it's better to just 0.95

00:42:06.160 to be totally platform agnostic and do whatever works and shift frequently. And that's why you're

00:42:12.480 just, I think it'll continue to see basically gaming platforms and Discord and Signal and

00:42:17.240 Telegram and WhatsApp because it's just better to not be in any one place. So yeah, it's scary.

00:42:25.780 it's a bit that that's all i wanted to share i think it's fascinating there's a lot more reading

00:42:29.500 you can do if you go to the show totally changes how businesses can operate which i find to be

00:42:33.820 interesting it does and if i was going to operate one of these i would likely target a country that

00:42:40.040 can't defend itself as easily i think that's the the best way to handle this rather than like the

00:42:44.860 united states or europe like yes those are the juiciest piggy banks right yeah but they're also

00:42:50.420 the most likely to get you whereas if you're targeting you know eastern europe or or you know

00:42:56.460 a lot of air majority countries and stuff like that you can operate without them being able to

00:43:01.900 push back as easily which should be very very interesting that's that's what i would do yeah

00:43:06.580 absolutely but then you've got to you know try to understand the local culture and language enough

00:43:11.760 to make that operate and so that's a bit you know difficult but uh very interesting to see

00:43:18.480 where this goes and as we get better at defending against this yeah yeah for real i'm so scared for

00:43:25.360 our kids man i don't know what look we're the ones who started a cult simone so you know keep

00:43:33.640 in mind hasn't these days i don't know like that's it's a pretty good cult i'm gonna be honest it's

00:43:39.880 cool i'm proud to be a techno puritan it's good it's it's yeah love you

00:43:46.080 what extent does it actually taste good because you're starving because you haven't eaten in a

00:43:53.120 really long time oh yeah i guess when i had like potatoes yesterday they were good

00:43:57.640 oh yeah you had you had french fries and samosas that that was the that was your 0.58

00:44:04.980 today she made slow cooked chinese pork belly and it is amazing it is amazing and then she's

00:44:16.320 gonna saute the the pork belly with bok choy and bean beanlets whatever they're called little

00:44:22.720 beans bean sprouts bean sprouts yeah but i am excited for this episode so let's hop right in

00:44:29.820 are we on the right side yes we are sir he's such in a grabby phase okay oh you think it's

00:44:37.460 he thinks it's funny he thinks it's funny of course he thinks it's funny

00:44:40.320 are they getting away are they your buddies how's the daycare going your baby chick daycare

00:44:47.400 it's going well

00:44:51.660 you tickles all right you want to give them their new home 0.91

00:44:59.600 okay of course okay girly down you go rascal uh-oh rascal's living up to her name 0.92

00:45:10.840 we'll get her in all right you can walk them into their new home

00:45:14.400 hey rascal come here girl

Based Camp - May 27, 2026

Terrorists & Crime Lords Discover Gig Work (Immediately Build Child Army)

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