It’s three in the morning in a luxurious condominium in Ortigas Center, Pasig City. The surroundings are quiet, but inside his fortieth-floor unit, Lester is wide awake. He is faced with four giant computer monitors containing thousands of names, phone numbers, and bank account details.

Lester is a seasoned social engineer and online scammer. He doesn’t care if the person he’s robbing is an elderly pensioner, a struggling mother, or a sick person in need of medicine. To him, the world is a big game, and gullible people are losers who deserve to be robbed of their wealth.

He lives a life of luxury. His entire bedroom is filled with expensive shoes, watches, and gadgets bought with other people’s tears.

Tonight, his attention is focused on a huge fish. A bank account in the name of “Arturo,” a businessman with fifty million pesos sitting in his checking account. Lester had been keeping an eye on it for a long time. He had already obtained all of his personal information through a phishing email he had sent last month. All that was missing was the One-Time Password or OTP.

Lester used his special software to mimic the official bank number. He called. After a few rings, a voice that sounded tired and sleepy answered.

“Good morning, Sir Arturo. I’m Mark from the Fraud Prevention Department of your bank. We would like to inform you that there is a suspicious transaction taking place in your account right now. Someone is attempting to transfer a large amount of money to another country,” Lester began formally and professionally. He had this script memorized. It always worked flawlessly.

He heard heavy breathing on the other line. “What? How did that happen? I’m not making any transactions! Please block it immediately!” Arturo replied in a panic and concern.

“Yes, Sir. We will do that. But in order for us to completely freeze your account and protect your funds, I will send a six-digit security code to your phone. You need to give it to me to verify your identity and cancel the unauthorized transfer,” Lester explained quickly and convincingly while smiling in front of the screen.

A little while later, a notification rang on Lester’s system. The OTP had been sent. On the other line, Arturo read the six numbers without hesitation. Lester immediately typed it on his keyboard and pressed enter.

Page: SAY – Story Around You | Original story.

Access Granted. Large green text appeared on his monitor. Lester’s fingers immediately moved. In just three minutes, he successfully transferred the entire fifty million pesos to an untraceable cryptocurrency wallet based outside the country. Not a cent was left in Arturo’s account.

Lester hung up the call and threw away the disposable sim card he had used. He leaned back in his soft chair, stretched his arms, and laughed out loud. “That’s easy! You idiots!” he shouted inside his quiet room. He stood up to grab a glass of expensive champagne from his mini-bar to celebrate the biggest heist of his life.

But before the cold glass could touch his lips, his personal, highly-encrypted cellphone suddenly rang. His brow furrowed. No one knew that number except his trusted accomplices on the dark web. Glancing at the screen, he received a text message from an unregistered number.

He opened the message and slowly read it. The smile on his lips gradually faded.

“Thank you very much for your help, Lester. Or should I call you by your real name, Leonardo? I’ve been looking for someone to receive that fifty million for a long time. That money doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to the Talavera Syndicate, a large group of smugglers looking for the person who stole their funds. They’ve been looking for the IP address where that money is for three weeks. Since you transferred it to your own wallet, you’re now the thief in their eyes. Good luck. I hear they don’t leave anyone alive.”

Lester’s entire body went cold. He dropped the glass of champagne he was holding, which shattered on the floor. How did Arturo know his real name? How did he know his personal number? At that moment, Lester realized that he was not the one who scammed. He was the one who was scammed. He was used as bait, a “fall guy” to catch the wrath of a very vicious syndicate, while the real Arturo was free to escape without a trace.

He tried to open his computer to return the money and prove that he had made a mistake, but suddenly the color of his monitors changed. All his files were gradually being erased. Something had broken his own firewall.

Along with the intense panic and trembling of his knees, he heard a deafening crash from outside the door of his condominium. This was followed by the intense echoing sound of heavy gunfire. He had nowhere to run. Just when he thought he was the smartest player in the world of deception, he learned that there was always a bigger monster waiting in the dark.