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criminal was her boyfriend, who was simply using her computer and IP address to commit crimes. Hardly a surprise, given that 96 per cent of hackers are male.

Doubtless the arrests were justified. But were the ‘administrators’ the guys making the money from Shadowcrew? No, they were not. It is true that among them were some so-called ‘monetisers’ (chief among them Gonzales who, notwithstanding his close ties to the Secret Service, later engineered an even more notorious bust — the hacking of T.J. Maxx’s credit-card database).

But the cops faced a problem that would frequently recur: hackers are not typical criminals. True, their skills are exploited by real crimi- nals to commit real crimes against real people. But the hackers are often oblivious to this aspect of their activity. They are Script’s ‘lone wolves’, often uninterested in amassing a fortune and more concerned to elevate themselves as masters within their peer group. ‘You have to understand,’ JiLsi explained, looking back on the carding experience, ‘that this was all a game. It was like playing Grand Theft Auto, except you are doing it for real. You pit yourself against living and breathing cops. And that makes the buzz so much bigger! It is about respect. It is about . . .’ JiLsi paused for effect, ‘your reputation.’

In one regard, however, the Shadowcrew bust of criminals operating on the Internet replicated the effect of a major takedown of a mafia organisation in the real world. It created a carding vacuum and trig- gered a monumental struggle for supremacy among the next generation of carders, who coalesced around two new websites that emerged the following year: CardersMarket and DarkMarket.

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