Gamer Superstar - Chapter 16

16 – Revenge
Phishing is like a clever fisherman trying to fool an unsuspecting fish, thus the name. The fisherman uses something appetizing, like bait, to attract a fish, and when it bites the hook, it ends up being caught. Similarly, in the internet world, phishing is when hackers try to trick people by sending fake emails or messages that look legitimate, but are actually full of tricks to steal personal information, such as passwords or bank details. So it’s like a magic trick, but instead of making a rabbit suddenly appear, they try to make your information appear.

The first time I used phishing was to get my chemistry teacher’s password in my previous world to change my grades after I failed one of her exams. Even as a complete novice, fooling an almost 60-year-old woman with a psychological tactic mixed with technology, something she had little mastery over, was very easy. The only thing I had to do concerning her was have my message posed as a member of the IT team who looked after the school’s network system and ask her for her login and password after pretending to confirm that she really was the chemistry teacher. Because I was the person who asked for confirmation of her identity, it made her more likely to trust me because of the distrust I supposedly had for her.

I knew that this kind of tactic might not be enough to fool Principal Adams, so at that point I used the next few hours to train my programming skills. Instead of posing as an IT employee who would ask for Director Adams’ password, I would do it in a more professional way. I would still use the identity of an IT employee, but instead of asking him for the password he used to access the site and the password for his email, I would create a fake site with the same appearance as the school’s site, where instead of connecting him to the site directly, I would ask him for his login, guarantee he made a mistake, and ask him to log into his email as well to confirm the password with a fake page that similarly used the same appearance as his email provider.

Copying the appearance of these two pages wasn’t too difficult, since I only needed the appearance and not the functionality of these pages, and in just 3 hours I had already studied what I needed to learn to do this, as well as reproducing the two fake pages.

Now the only thing left to do was to send him the email.

[Dear Mr. Adams,

I hope you are well. I would like to ask you to kindly access the school’s website and confirm an important option. It is necessary that we make this confirmation as soon as possible to ensure the integrity and security of the company’s data.

Please go to [Website URL] and find the [Public Data] section. There, you will find the option to confirm [Keep Public Data].

If you need any further assistance or guidance, I am happy to help.

Thank you in advance for your attention and cooperation.

Sincerely,

Brian Johnson

IT Team].

Brian Johnson was my computer teacher, who I knew also worked in the school’s IT team, so he was a good cover to use as an identity.

With the email sent, I only had to wait. Just as I’d imagined, in less than 10 minutes I’d already received the data he’d filled in on my back end.

professor.adams.423@memail.com aaadamspassword123

Right, with the email and password he used to access the school website, it would theoretically be easier to get the other logins, but I just had to wait and see if he’d fall for the other bait.

professor.adams.423@memail.com aaadamspassword123

Yes, perfect, pust as I imagined. His login and password were the same, so he probably used that password for most, if not all, of his social networks.

With that secured, I finally logged into his email and saw from the history of emails sent that he did indeed have Jackson Adams’ contact details, and from the messages containing much more intimate content than a principal should send to a student, it was virtually certain that Principal Adams was Jackson’s father or relative. Having confirmed that, now I just had to get even.

Using his login, the first place I looked was FaceShoot, the most used social network apart from Instagram in this world. Opening the chat history, the history of likes and replies to comments, I had everything I needed. With a big smile on my face, I screenshotted the various conversations and comments that Director Adams was making and posted everything to his feed with the caption “Pedo Adams”.

Of course, as well as tagging his various friends in the post, I also changed the email and password on the profile, and sent it as a complaint to the police and public affairs. Now it would only be a matter of time before he loses his job or even gets arrested.

I laughed as I looked at the notification that popped up for me.

[Programming Prowess Lv6 -> Lv9]

Leaving the Cyber Cafe and paying the $10 it had cost me for the five hours I’d been here, I went near the school entrance and waited. While I was waiting, I noticed a message from Olivia.

[Are you OK?] She asked, probably also having seen the image.

[Yes, I’m fine. Don’t worry, I’ll deal with it today. Tell our mom I came home alone. ] I replied.

Seeing my reply, she took her time typing, probably typing and deleting endlessly, until she finally sent something.

[Be careful…]

I could see that she was worried, but because of our distance that had been built up over several years, even though we had grown closer over the last few days, she still wasn’t sure how to act. But seeing that she had sent me the worried message made me happy.

Hearing the signal that class was over, I hid in an alley near the school and watched from afar. I didn’t want anyone to see me, and with my size, that was difficult, so I had to stay well away. Luckily, I knew which way Jackson went home, so I just stood there waiting.

After about 20 minutes, I saw a bicycle coming towards me and saw that on the bicycle was Jackson, alone, listening to music with a silly smile on his face. Wondering why he was smiling, I grabbed the iron bar from my backpack and waited for him to approach me. I chose to wait at this spot because not only was it close enough to the school to guarantee that he would pass by, but it was also secluded enough not to have anyone passing by often and no cameras to film around. So when he got close to me, I just ran towards him.

Seeing me coming towards him, Jackson’s expression changed from the silly grin he had on his face to surprised shock. He didn’t even have time to react when I shoved the metal bar between the rims of his bicycle wheel, causing the wheel to lock and him to fall to the ground. Knowing I had to be fast, I quickly retrieved the iron bar from between his spokes and made my way towards him on the ground.

“Having fun with the photo you posted on Instabram, Adams?” I asked as I lifted the metal bar.

Seeing the expression of fear and horror on his face as he looked at the metal bar was priceless.

“I’m sorry, Black. It was just a joke!” He tried to shout, but I didn’t care and slammed the bar into his arm.

I had the strength to probably break his arm with a blow like that, but I didn’t want to make it so violent that the police would worry too much about me. I’d already broken someone’s leg in my previous life and I know how annoying the police get depending on how serious the crime gets. But the reverse also happens; just a small fight won’t yield anything more than a sentence that’s more than a slap on the wrist.” And that was the goal I was going to aim for. I was going to dance on the thin line between a light crime and a medium crime with Jackson.

Using the metal bar, I started hitting him on several different parts of his body, but I didn’t break any bones. Okay, maybe I broke a rib or two, but that was still a minor offense.

“My father is the head of the school, Black! I’m going to get him to expel you and send you to jail!” Jackson shouted angrily between the tears and snot that ran down his face.

“I hope he’s not in jail himself by then…” I laughed, as I held the bar with a satisfied smile, “And if I hear you using my name from that filthy mouth of yours again, I’m going to knock every one of those teeth out with this metal bar. Is that clear?”

Despite his anger, the only thing he could do was nod as he moaned in pain.

In order not to waste time exposing myself here, I just walked away, leaving Jackson lying on the ground. Honestly, I wanted to break his various bones, but I knew it would attract the attention of the police. They would come to my house and it would not only worry my family, but if something like this leaked out in the future, it could tarnish my career. So I tried to deal with it as best I could. Of course, with access to his father’s email, I was going to use that as a means to get Jackson’s logins as well and return the attack he made on me.

Two can play the same game Adams, and I know how to play much better…