Jack Recider

Episode 20 called Mob Man. Take a listen to this short clip of it.

Episode 20 called Mob Man. Take a listen to this short clip of it.

He built a program that would allow him to take control of another computer.

He built a program that would allow him to take control of another computer.

This is an episode where I interviewed a guy named Greg, who went by the name Mobman, who claimed to have made the Sub-7 malware back in the 90s. The episode haunts me because I have received numerous comments that listeners don't believe he's the guy who created Sub 7.

This is an episode where I interviewed a guy named Greg, who went by the name Mobman, who claimed to have made the Sub-7 malware back in the 90s. The episode haunts me because I have received numerous comments that listeners don't believe he's the guy who created Sub 7.

For instance, there's a Reddit post where someone said, I just started listening to Mob Man this afternoon and couldn't finish it. I just don't believe this guy made Sub 7 or could have created a rat at all. It's not just his attitude or personality. It just seems as if he only has a cursory knowledge of any of the technology used.

For instance, there's a Reddit post where someone said, I just started listening to Mob Man this afternoon and couldn't finish it. I just don't believe this guy made Sub 7 or could have created a rat at all. It's not just his attitude or personality. It just seems as if he only has a cursory knowledge of any of the technology used.

Multiple times throughout the interview, something he said just didn't quite make sense or didn't match up with what I remember from that time period. Then some other commenter said, I had the same impression too. And someone else said, he's fakey wakey. And then someone else said, I remember the creator was Romanian and that guy is not Romanian.

Multiple times throughout the interview, something he said just didn't quite make sense or didn't match up with what I remember from that time period. Then some other commenter said, I had the same impression too. And someone else said, he's fakey wakey. And then someone else said, I remember the creator was Romanian and that guy is not Romanian.

I fact-check my guests as best I can, but I do most of the research and writing for this show, and I can only check so much. Before publishing that episode, I spoke to some people who knew Greg personally from Tampa, where he's from, and they told me he's legit. On top of that, he was featured in a Rolling Stone magazine article saying he's the one who created Sub-7.

I fact-check my guests as best I can, but I do most of the research and writing for this show, and I can only check so much. Before publishing that episode, I spoke to some people who knew Greg personally from Tampa, where he's from, and they told me he's legit. On top of that, he was featured in a Rolling Stone magazine article saying he's the one who created Sub-7.

I figure Rolling Stone would do some fact-checking themselves, right? And also, Greg offered to show me the source code for Sub7, and he demonstrated how he has control over the Sub7 domain name. So I just show this to people who didn't buy the story. But as I listened to people and read more theories about this, it started to make me think maybe they're right.

I figure Rolling Stone would do some fact-checking themselves, right? And also, Greg offered to show me the source code for Sub7, and he demonstrated how he has control over the Sub7 domain name. So I just show this to people who didn't buy the story. But as I listened to people and read more theories about this, it started to make me think maybe they're right.

Maybe I interviewed the wrong person. See, I interviewed a guy named Greg who goes by Mobman, and on every version of Sub7, it was created by someone calling themselves Mobman. So I was starting to think, wait, if Greg didn't make Sub 7, then are there two mob men out there? If so, where's the second one? Somewhere around 2004, the Sub-7 creator, Mob Man, disappeared.

Maybe I interviewed the wrong person. See, I interviewed a guy named Greg who goes by Mobman, and on every version of Sub7, it was created by someone calling themselves Mobman. So I was starting to think, wait, if Greg didn't make Sub 7, then are there two mob men out there? If so, where's the second one? Somewhere around 2004, the Sub-7 creator, Mob Man, disappeared.

And Greg just so happened to get arrested the same time too. And so he says that's why he disappeared. So did two Mob Men disappear at the same time? If there are two, then Greg is the only one who came back as Mob Man. The other Mob Man is still out there somewhere.

And Greg just so happened to get arrested the same time too. And so he says that's why he disappeared. So did two Mob Men disappear at the same time? If there are two, then Greg is the only one who came back as Mob Man. The other Mob Man is still out there somewhere.

Well, a guy named Ill Will took it upon himself to find the real mob man, and he spent years hunting through the internet looking for him, and eventually found a clue which led him to a potential email address used by the real mob man. He emailed him, and sure enough, he said, yeah, I'm the one who created Sub 7. You found me. And I got connected with this mob man to hear the story. Hello, hello.

Well, a guy named Ill Will took it upon himself to find the real mob man, and he spent years hunting through the internet looking for him, and eventually found a clue which led him to a potential email address used by the real mob man. He emailed him, and sure enough, he said, yeah, I'm the one who created Sub 7. You found me. And I got connected with this mob man to hear the story. Hello, hello.