Review Of The Web of Make Believe: Death, Lies and the Internet

So yes, I was planning to make a list of true crime series I liked on Netflix, but when I went into my account, I ended up finishing the Web of Make Believe: Death, Lies and the Internet series. They are 60 minutes per episode. So, a chunk of my day into watching this ops. Does this happen just to me when I’m watching something and tell myself just one, and I end up watching the whole series? Here is my sort of review of each cybercrime.

Death by SWAT:

It starts with gamer Tyler Barriss begins to make fake bomb trait calls to see schools and public places being evaluated, and the SWAT team is called. The term used is swatting, and Tyler boasted about it online. Each hoax call cost America a ton of money. Even jail time didn’t stop him from Swatting since gaming, and the online world is the only life he has ever known. What upset me the most was how the police started shooting as if it was nothing.

A Murder in D.C.:

This is set around the murder of Seth Rich, who was a staffer for Hillary Clinton. The media had plenty of theories, the main one being that it was a political-related crime. Sadly, the who and why they did it is still a mystery to this day. In my opinion, the online conspiracies might have let a killer go free.

I’m Not a Nazi:

I had a hard time watching this one, and I can’t describe so I’m sharing the synopsis from Netflix: A woman recounts her journey to becoming a mouthpiece for white nationalist hate speech, work that culminates in high-profile violence and murder. I won’t lie; I’m still shocked that someone could be so evil as to create such violence. On the other hand, I can’t blame Samantha because love can be so blinding that it makes you do unbelievable things.

Sextortion:

Sextortion is a new sex crime, and the scary thing is that it is all done in the cyber world. What makes it is that the police didn’t consider it a crime. 20-plus women stepped forward since they were blackmailed with their personal information getting leaked if sexual content wasn’t sent to the hacker. It is horrible; a few years ago, someone tried on me. They had convinced me to send him a nude and threatened to leak that photo everywhere. Luckily, when I didn’t give in, they gave up. I can see that that was one of the worst days of my life. If it had escalated to the point like in these cases, I don’t think I would have had the courage to go public.

The Stingray Part 1 and 2:

It all started when two skilled hackers started committing tax fraud crimes that tricked the FBI for years. It is mind-blowing to learn that the FBI had to use some shadowy devices to catch them. It’s called a Stingray; basically, it is like a portable cell tower, and law enforcement can see everything on your devices, including location and personal information.

I find this six-episode so hooking since, like everyone else, it feels like I live online, giving me a better understanding of the darkest sides of the internet. The internet opened a new black hole of crime we might even not be aware of. My rating would be 8.5 out of 10.

Alex