The founder of the Hellcat ransomware group confirms my findings about Rey's identity.
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@briankrebs Just wanted to say one of the three admins in the beginning is the rose bot, which is a huge group management bot on Telegram, not actually a human admin.
The founder of the Hellcat ransomware group confirms my findings about Rey's identity.
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@briankrebs #Google will be shutting down Dark Web Report Feb 17 2026🤦🏼
@briankrebs nice work, brain krebs
@briankrebs I like that they call you "Brain"
@briankrebs I do wonder, is the only way to stop this shit just parental responsibility?
@briankrebs LMAO, KREBS yet again with WORTHLESS ARTICLES. rey has clearly used this guy as a cover, one of the best opsec tricks
@briankrebs this is very impressive investigation, and presumably could be a good lead into others also/still committing significant crimes?
However, assuming the personal details are real (journalists normally say if "names have been changed" etc), is it really in the public interest to publish this level of detail about a child, even an alleged criminal? And his family too who may be guilty of nothing more than naivety? What about risk of retaliation from the rest of the group?
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@ChrisSharpe I considered that, of course. However, this person is an integral part of a group that specializes in lying and social engineering people into doing what they want. I did not accept anything Ray shared at face value, and that includes his claims about his age.
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@briankrebs Hm, fair point. Almost like you're more experienced at this than some random guy on the internet 😲
I'm still not sure, given you pieced it together through what _appears_ to be accidentally leaked details over a longer period of time from a shared family computer.
If the details are real, it's iffy releasing it; if they are not then the story is a bit different and maybe incomplete. It isn't "I uncovered the real person behind this".
@briankrebs so, he’s the one who sends me those emails.
I blocked him and ended up blocking my own email and couldn’t figure out how he did that.
I wish he would stop.
@briankrebs just read this article, great read!
@briankrebs The ethics of doxxing a 15 year old are a bit dodgy, to say the least.
But otherwise decent article. And it's incredible to read about what kids these days are capable of.
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@kallisti Thanks, noted. I tried to talk to the dad first, but he evidently punted me to his son. Also, this guy is part of a group that lies and social engineers people all the time quite successfully. I don't accept anything he told me at face value, including his claims about his age.
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@briankrebs Talking to them is good and all, and I get that their claims cannot be trusted, but the legal names and address were confirmed by outside sources, no?
Is there any benefit to publishing that information, especially the address?
@briankrebs So uh, you just doxxed a 15-year-old kid with full name and address? Huh. Well that's a bit fucked.
@briankrebs “However, they did not redact their previously-used password” oh wow that was a real password?
@briankrebs This... is quite the scoop, wow! Great work piecing together all these individual crumbs into ... this story.
*slow, standing up, clap*
@briankrebs Advenced Persistent Teenager, as usal by now...
Great reporting ! Wish the average reporter would be as good as you !
@briankrebs great article! So many interesting details in it!
@briankrebs Advanced Persistent Teenagers.
Uh. Who did he agree to an interview with, you?
@briankrebs Is the interview in his parent's basement <joke>
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