In a bizarre incident, a woman in the Netherlands was left shocked when an AK-47 was delivered to her home after it was purchased by her eight-year-old son on the dark web without her knowledge.
Speaking to Euronews, human resources expert Barbara Gemen talked about how her son got involved in cyber crime at a very young age. She stated that her son had been spending a lot of time behind the computer and indulged in hacking at the age of eight.
“He started ordering things on the Internet without paying,” said Gemen. She added that while the purchases made by her son from the dark web started with small things like “free” pizza, slowly they became more horrifying.
As per the media outlet, the parent stated that incomprehensible code phrases were being used by her son such as “Pitt is coming to our place” whenever she would enter a room to mask his dealings which he carried out with illicit actors via online games. She added that her son was used by the hackers to launder money for others as well.
However, she didn’t realise the intensity of the situation till an AK-47 gun was delivered to her doorstep.
“I think he spent a month figuring out how to order the gun and have it shipped to our home,” recalled Gemen, adding that the gun was routed by her son from Poland to Bulgaria so as to avoid customs.
“He opened it and he was really, really excited that he managed to get a gun delivered to our home. I was completely shocked. I immediately decided to do things differently at home,” she said.
Gun handed over to police, no legal action taken
Gemen, speaking to Euronews, said that the gun was handed over by her to the local police department and the authorities did not take any legal action was taken against her child. She added that there was also a change in her son’s personality.
“He started to wake up at night to sit behind a computer and he was really stressed. And that’s when we find out he was working with a group of international hackers,” she stated.
Law enforcement was contacted by Gemen for advice, however, she alleged that her concern was dismissed as an “exaggeration”. She said that after that she decided to train herself in cybersecurity and became a Cyber Special Volunteer with the Dutch Police.
“It’s so easy these days because a lot of kids have laptops and cell phones and you can basically do a hack with a few clicks. It’s a quite big issue to prevent young people from hacking. They often don’t know what’s legal or what’s illegal,” Gemen said.
