Work turned an ape into a human, computer work, it seems, started the reverse process. After sitting by the computer for two weeks almost without sleep, I didn’t recognize myself in the mirror. Only about twenty years old, yet I had the facial hair of a middle-aged mountain man. The keyboard is sticky with Coke, two ashtrays are full of cigarette butts, whatever didn’t fit is scattered on the floor. I didn’t just have bags under my eyes, I had whole containers. But the most disappointing thing is that nothing turned out to be as simple as I thought. Electronic commerce in Runet was not developed to the point where you could make a million right away, though I did get my thirty bucks back, even made 20 more income. The landlady should be making a visit the next day, so I only had one choice – to have my roommates loan me money. I think I will say a few extra words about the roommates. I would probably dedicate a whole book to them. Dima and Serezha. A while back we worked together in a restaurant, I was a bartender and they were waiters. Then I dove head first into the Web, for which they always scolded me. Dima blamed me all the time that I keep playing and don’t work. Serezha didn’t really care about my material situation, he liked online games himself, so he often hung out with me in the evenings. Serezha is five years older than me, but it was always nice to talk to him heart-to-heart or about something intelligent. Dima though, only two years older than me, didn’t really shine intellectually, but he was a happy-go-lucky kind of guy, and the coolest part was that he was strong. His “two by two” proportions had you feeling secure even in the word parts of Moscow. During my time as a food service worker, we would go out every night, meet girls, invite them over, and so on. Now I did not have any money for parties, so I had to quit drinking. I’m probably one of the few avid drinkers who believe that it’s better to drink nothing at all than to drink some kind of crap. I couldn’t even afford cigarettes, because I invested all my money into the Web. I had to collect change and smoke “Prima” and “Belomor”. Food also could have been better. First days I only had enough to buy hobo packets, that is instant noodles, now I couldn’t even pay for this delicacy. So I ate peas. Many Russians probably remember the kind of dried peas that would sit for 20 years on the shelf and wouldn’t spoil. I found them in the kitchen. Perhaps the landlady thought it was inedible and didn’t take it with her when she rented out the apartment. Whole two bags. Mmmmm… How tasty it becomes when you don’t eat for two days. The most important thing is to have salt. And if you also have bread, then no kind of black caviar can compare with this dish. Boil it in a saucepan for an hour or two, salt it, break off a piece of bread, pour yourself a glass of tap water and presto - your lunch is ready.
Once I asked Dima to leave me some cigarettes. He smoked “Russian Style”, which, comparable to “Prima” was the biggest bliss possible.
— Screw you, wanna smoke — go work, — followed an answer.
— Come on, Dima, I was never greedy with you not just with cigarettes, I would sometimes totally pay for our going out.
— Yeah, well, I don’t give a damn, go work.
Annoying and painful, but oh well. I’ll keep smoking “Prima”. Soon a moment came where the threat was clearly in sight, I couldn’t just live without cigarettes or food — plus, I could easily end up on the street. I wasn’t really attracted by the perspective of spending my nights on a park bench, digging through garbage bins or begging for change, so I had to humiliate myself. Having gathered the guys in the kitchen, I said:
—We have to pay for the apartment tomorrow, I have no money right now, can anyone loan me some?
Instead of an answer I got these looks into nothingness. I’m sure that everyone knows this look. When you ask someone for help and they ignore you. They pretend that they don’t really notice, that it isn’t directed towards them, and, well, who are you to dare ask them something like this? And this is despite the fact that you are supposed to be friends and it’s not your first year knowing each other. When you are riding a horse, everyone follows you running, but as soon as you fall — they will trample you. I decided to ask each one of them personally:
—Dima, can you help me? I really don’t have anywhere to get this money, I promise you, I’ll give it back as soon as possible.
— You know what? If you worked, I would give them to you, but like this, no way, you shouldn’t be sitting by the computer day after day. If you don’t want to work — go be a bum.
I lost my speech for a moment. This was a person whom I did a lot for. Any minute I would help and support him.
— Serezha, can you loan me money?
— Dang it, you know, Dima has a point, maybe it’s enough for you to just be sitting in front of a computer? Go work as a bartender, you’re real good at it.
— I’d love to, guys, but it’s not my thing. It just isn’t. I’m asking you for a small amount. Times past, I would make this money in 4-5 days. Are you really gonna just leave me like that? I’ll make it, believe me, I’ll get mine and we’ll have our own happily ever after.
— Fine, — Serezha gave up, — I’ll loan you the money, but only for three weeks, then you are going to give them back, otherwise you are going to live on the street. Agreed?
— Agreed.
Now I had three more weeks. I was thankful to Serezha. Despite everything, he believed in me at least a little big. And Dima turned out to be a ghost of a friend. Just a roommate. I went back into the Web and decided not to come out until I earn at least another hundred bucks. There were a bunch of classifieds about jobs on the forum. It wasn’t the type of job you might think; it was work as a punch-in guy. The post said that you had to be ready to give cardboard and necessary wares, for every successful punch-in (when the card worked and the merchandise would reach its destination) you would get 20 bucks. To card, meaning, to pay with stolen credit cards, meant you had to pay for hosting and specified servers, dedicated ones. I added the post authors contact to ICQ and wrote:
— Here?
In fifteen minutes I got an answer.
— Here.
— I wanted to ask about the punch-in guy work. Do you need more?
— Yup, sure do. Have you been carding for long?
— To be honest, not very. But I already know how to punch in cardboard. I used to buy access to online games and sell them on auctions.
— Do you have recommendations?
— What do you mean?
— Have you worked for anybody or with anybody?
— I used to work as a bartender, — I wrote. And put a laughing smiley.
— Don’t be dumb. I mean in carding.
— I don’t want to lie, I never worked with anybody. But I learn quickly. Honest. Give me a test job and a time, if everything turns out alright, are you gonna trust me to the fullest?
— Alright. Give me your e-mail, I’ll send you the cardboard. I need dedicated servers in Asia and South America. Can you do it?
— Yes. Where can I buy them?
— You need the site addys or something?
— Well, yeah.
— What the hell I need you for if I’m gonna look for shops for you? Google help you :)
— Sounds good. When do you need it?
— Doesn’t matter. As soon as the money comes in and the server is ready, you give me access. For each dedicated server, I give you a twenty. I need a lot, so you’ll have plenty of work.
— Okay, thanks. Here’s the e-mail: ******@mail.ru.
— Are you stupid? I thought you punched in before, who makes a Runet e-mail address? You’re either gonna get arrested or get your e-mail closed. Make a Yahoo account, I’ll send it there.
— I’ll do it.
— And one more thing. While you’re making an e-mail account. Since you haven’t been in carding for too long, you probably don’t know all the rules. I’m not gonna tell you everything, you didn’t hire me as a teacher, but remember this forever: DON’T EVER WORK IN RUSSIA OR AGAINST IT. Otherwise you’re screwed. And all the carders will stop respecting you and the government will take a real quick interest in you. Have you ever heard about the “K” section?
— I read something about them on the forum.
— Well, these guys knew about you as soon as you made the first post on the forum. They’re passive, they don’t touch you, because you’re a kind of financial partisan. You steal money from the west and bring them into our economy. You spend them in Russia. But as soon as you steal a hundred rubles in Russia — consider yourself screwed. Well, no. They are not going to touch you for a hundred, but they will warn you. For real amounts though, you will go by the 159th criminal code, real quick. Do you get it?
— Yes.
— Got a mailbox?
— Yeah, here you go *****@yahoo.com
— Okay. I’m sending out the cardboard.
A couple of minutes had passed, I checked my mail. The virtual credit cards really did come.
— I got it . Thanks for the trust.
— Hope it’s tasty. I’m waiting for results.
So, I began my virtual work.
It’s hard to be a punch-in guy. But it’s perfect for a newbie. The most important thing is to practice in easier payment systems. My training site was a very famous resource in the states. You register, transfer your money to an account from a credit card and enjoy women who do whatever you ask for before a webcam. The funniest thing was that I met a lot of Russian girls this way. We would chat about nothing for hours. Actually, I would write them and they would respond right into the camera. One minute of such pleasure costs two bucks on average. I spent a day there without a break in communication. Poor Americans and their bank accounts. Perhaps someone will say that it’s bad to spend honest people’s money, even if they are Americans, just because, on pornography. But I have something to say to that. I let these Russian girls earn money, the ones that sit there and do all kinds of perverse things before these dirty and fat outlanders, while they only think about that they have to put their kids through a good kindergarten, school, or maybe just to buy them pampers. I left my account open while I let them do their thing and the money went from my account to theirs. Do they really have to suffer if they made a mistake in choosing a partner? No! But it’s their business, I only tried to help.
The next day, I did start doing the real thing and I was able to win over two hosts. Two dedicated servers in a day — not a bad start. In the evening, I gave my “employer” access to the servers and after a tough checking process, I got my 40 bucks. It turned out to not be that difficult. Or maybe I was just used to the fact that I had to sit for 24 hours before the computer to make a 40. My dreams about fast millions flew far, far away. I would make at least twice as much as a bartender, but there, there was a limit. Here there are no limits. Actually, I’m lying, there is one — “go to jail or become a tycoon” (It’s the beginner carders’ call, who don’t understand yet that no amount of money will replace real freedom).
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