A professional scam artist has revealed the shocking reasons behind his evil crimes.
Andrew, 18, who is originally from Ukraine, was invited onto a video podcast to openly discuss his crimes on camera behind a face-blurring filter.
The teenager has been living in Toronto, Canada for a year, and currently works in a restaurant.
In an eye-opening episode of the Unmentionable podcast (@unmentionablepodcast), run by comedian Jordan Power, also from Toronto, the ex-swindler shares how he began putting people out of pocket since he was just 13 years old.
Andrew ran his first scam on the online game, CS:GO (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive) and made $600 per month which he used as his “pocket money”.
He said his parents were “worried” about where the money was coming from and admitted he had to “lie all the time”.
Since then, he has scammed $100,000 from victims through online schemes “to survive”.
He admits that most of this hefty sum was made in the past two years and suggested that recessions made his work easier.
“Sometimes I feel bad but often I do not,” he said.
“I do what I do to survive.
“When I started, I was surprised at how easy it is to scam.
“These people wanted to be scammed.
“Online scamming will get a lot bigger with a recession.”
Andrew also said that he now mainly targets people in Russia from his bedroom in Canada and claims to have friends who also participate in scamming.
He claims to often targets young men in low income jobs, telling Jordan that he came to Canada before the war in Ukraine began in February this year.
His mum, dad and younger brother have been significantly affected by the war, which saw his dad initially lose his job and they could not leave the country.
Jordan asks Andrew if he’s worried about any “backlash” from his actions.
Andrew says: “I do not believe in karma.
“I’ve never had any problems with them (the government), so I’m not worried about that.
“And right now I’m living in Canada, and I’m scamming people in Russia, so how could it affect me?
“I’m not hiding at all, I have an open instagram.
“Of course they DM (direct message) me but I just block them (the victims).
“I don’t feel guilty at all.”
The appearance on the show has shed light on what a scam can look like and serves as a warning to others.
Jordan asks him: “How would you get me to go to the (online) casino?”
Andrew replies: “There are a lot of different phrases that we use to grab the people’s attention, all the stuff about the easy money, no work, do your own business, follow the trends, don’t lose your opportunities”.
Later in the interview, the fraudster reveals to Jordan that although scamming is “exciting”, he doesn’t feel “proud” doing it.
He says would like to start up his own online “legal business”.
