From Minecraft to Crypto Theft: Ex-Hackers Warn Teens of Cybercrime Reality

Cybercriminals aren’t typically forthcoming about their activities. But at a sixth-form college in Manchester this week, two former hackers offered students a candid look into the realities of a life of internet crime.

The discussion, part of an initiative backed by the Co-op, aimed to steer talented young people – particularly those skilled in gaming and coding – towards using their abilities for cybersecurity rather than illicit activities. The Co-op’s involvement stems from a personal experience: a debilitating hack in April 2025 that significantly impacted their business.

Conor Freeman, 26, from Dublin, and Ricky Handschumacher, a 30-year-old US citizen, both former members of a sprawling cybercrime ecosystem known as “The Com,” shared their experiences with students at Connell Co-op College. Freeman served nearly three years in prison for his role in a $2 million cryptocurrency theft, while Handschumacher received a four-year sentence for a crypto heist.

The narrative emerging from their accounts paints a picture far removed from the glamorous depictions often seen in Hollywood films. The day-to-day reality, according to one of the hackers, involves “people getting into these online dramas and they’re swatting and doxing each other and getting people to throw bricks through their windows.” “Swatting” refers to falsely reporting a serious crime to trigger a SWAT team response at someone’s address, while “doxing” involves publicly revealing someone’s personal information online.

Both Freeman and Handschumacher were drawn into The Com through online gaming. Freeman’s initial involvement began with Minecraft, where he was groomed by an older teenager and subsequently led to participation in dark web hacking forums and cryptocurrency theft. Handschumacher echoed this sentiment, stating he would have chosen a different path if he had known he could be “paid a lot of money to do the right thing.”

The Hacking Games, a startup partnering with the Co-op, is central to this effort to redirect talent. The company’s co-founder and CEO, Fergus Hay, highlights the strong correlation between gaming and hacking skills. He describes gaming as a “live laboratory for skills development,” particularly emphasizing the value of “modding” – the practice of altering video game software – as a training ground for both ethical and malicious hacking.

Hay’s company has developed an AI-powered test designed to identify individuals with these skills, aiming to connect them with cybersecurity roles where they can contribute to “red teaming” – a practice where expert computer users simulate attacks on a company’s network to identify vulnerabilities. This approach recognizes that a generation of naturally gifted hackers exists, largely untapped because their skills aren’t traditionally showcased on platforms like LinkedIn.

The initiative comes at a time of escalating cybercrime. The Money team reported in December 2025 that children as young as seven are being referred to Britain’s national cybercrime intervention programme, Cyber Choices. The average age of referrals is 15, and insurance payouts to UK businesses impacted by hacks have increased by 230% year-on-year. This trend underscores the increasing accessibility of cybercrime, even for very young individuals.

The risks associated with entering the world of cybercrime are substantial. Freeman served 11 months of his sentence and now works as an ethical hacker for The Hacking Games. The case of Ellis Pinsky, a 15-year-old who stole $24 million in Bitcoin in 2018, illustrates the potential consequences. Pinsky’s actions led to an FBI investigation, a $22 million lawsuit, and a violent home invasion. More recently, in July 2025, four individuals, including three teenagers, were arrested in connection with cyberattacks targeting the Co-op, Marks & Spencer, and Harrods.

Rob Elsey, the Co-op group’s chief digital officer, emphasized the goal of the talks is to “helping young people recognise that the digital skills they already have can be a force for good, protecting people, organisations and communities rather than being misused or exploited.” The Co-op plans to expand these Hacking Games talks to its 38 school academies throughout the year.

The message delivered to students at Connell Co-op College was clear: while opportunities exist within the computing field, it’s crucial to be mindful of the potential consequences of unethical actions. As one student, Suheil, 17, put it, “The lesson is there’s great opportunities for you to go into computing, but you have to be watchful of what you’re doing because if you do something wrong, it will quickly harm your future.”