Interview with D4RKR4BB1T

Background:

My name is Pavel M. Kravchenko. I was born 23-10-1996 in the US to a Russian mother, and a German father from East Berlin. Moving back just a week or two later to my hometown of Tomsk. I wasn't online until 2005, so I had time to work in the gardens and hunt. In some ways, I have never lost my trade or love for hunting's dangerous game. Although I'm not able to legally hunt in the US due to laws requiring me to take hunter's safety, I am a firearms owner, (so no clue why I can't hunt deer or bear but I can legally hunt criminals without a permit or bag limit).

I'm asked a lot: What does my name mean? 

Essentially, D4RK R4BB1T (47) isn't as unique as it may seem: Rabbits are smart, elusive and rather quick. The darkness is a nod to me being feared and unpredictable, but it's also part of a movie reference: White_Rabbit.obj from Jurassic Park, which was a trojan horse. However, the 47 is obvious: Agent 47. Hitman, of course. I'm well versed in numerous topics and what better combo than a man who's at the top of his game with the most elusive animal?

As for Education:

Self-educated in most topics that aren't part of normal schoolwork. Graduated with a master’s in psychology. Although most "extra topics" are broad and assist greatly in OSINT, botany, culture, linguistics, genetics and legal are more of a self-taught thing so I have a lot more knowledge than most.

How do I find people I Investigate?

Simple: Pick a topic, poke around Twitter, hacking forums, and other social media until you find something you believe you can track down. Although LockBit is elusive, the cocky attitude is what drives me. It's a bad thing, don't get cocky or complicit and don't talk to people about your crimes. Researcher wants to interview you? Nope! I see too much of this. It makes it too easy. love a challenge. Update: So, we managed to track down the leader of at least five or more multi-million dollar exit scams that were pretty much a dark web marketplace admin exit scamming from 2019-2023 but has been active since 2014. Starting with Grams and then moving to other projects like Nightmare Market, World Market, KILOS (should be obvious by Grams), Exposed Forums and more. All it took was a small chip in the dam to make it all come crashing down.

How do I protect myself?

VPN, Tor, common sense, detracting, baiting, intelligence. If you can insult their ego by making them look dumb... Do it. If you can bait them into being angry... Do it. If you have time to educate yourself about everything there is to know about a place you want to live down to streets, bars, etc... Do it and become a citizen of that place. I say I'm in Miami. However, I could be in Jacksonville or Houston; you cannot prove it but I'll ask you to try. I have residential proxies and friends all over who hide who I am, where I am and more.

What's the scariest situation in this occupation?

I haven't been in anything too bad so can't say anything is terrifying when we live in times it's predictable.

What am I working on currently?

High profile crimes and dark web marketplaces, mostly; some info gathering and well, other projects "Because I can'', and not for any other reason; although it's boring when it's not a challenge.

Funny Stories?

Recently, with our exposure of the dark web marketplace exit scam, we found a user who's from Bulgaria and the memes and content are being mass-produced in private circles. I can say we have three selfies and his Bulgarian ID Card so now we're just producing memes with the usual "I'm poor but wanna look rich" theme. Yankees ball cap with a terrible supreme logo slapped onto the bill like some cheap Chinese counterfeit. Ah yes, the quality memes that you make knowing this dude can never cash out the grand majority of his ill-gotten gains. Personally, I don't want him arrested because there goes BTC, LTC, XMR, ETH's value right into a golden toilet that's already stained with glowing green stains in the bowl. No thanks.

What do I look out for?

When interviewing, it's almost always mannerisms, word choice, amount of emojis, education level and insults, slurs, vulgarity, etc. You can tell a lot from the text, as previously stated. I prefer a more vulgar but formal American-English due to being a criminal at one point. Way easier to scam if you speak like an American. To be explicit: "Wicked" is commonly used to say something's good in New England, whereas “y'all” is Mid-Western. Bloody, blud, and bruv are British English, there are several other languages but I'm not trying to come off as rude. If you're studying facial features, my wife is Turkish and I'm German-Russian, I have the hair style of a German, the beard of the Irish and a head shape of a Russian and the nose of a German as well. Once you can sense these genetic traits, it'll become very easy to start closing in.

A shortened version: Look for how something is worded – Portuguese is poorly translated to English and Spanish; when someone says “her”, for example, it might become “him” when translated. Genetics are also a huge player, combine this with let's say plant life or other minor details of a house, i.e., electrical outlet, you'll have a better time trying to track someone or something down.

Given my usage of social engineering, how easy is it to social engineer criminals?

Given you're dealing with drug addicts, mental illnesses, etc... it's way too easy. All you gotta do is be a persistent threat to their security. Take stuff out of context, throw it on social media, etc. Make them angry, make them sad, make them believe you're harmless. Your goal is to make them speak by any means possible and to be very clear, if you must act like a script kiddie, go for it. If you really need to anger someone, try to be the most horrible person you want to be, just don't be an idiot.

My Largest bust...

Exposed forums and the rest of Impotent/LoveLace/Pulpo's exit scams... (still ongoing but it's been fun so far). We have to date: three selfies, his government issued ID card, his mother’s social medias (Viber + Telegram), her phone number, his address, the brand of watch he wore on numerous occasions and more.