(Not that the feds would find them, since they claimed to live at phantom addresses.) And the fake sellers would take the heat if the authorities discovered, seized or shuttered the operation. It seemed like the perfect scheme: This stateside expansion allowed the startup to keep its identity a secret while making at least $2 million in customer payments since 2016. Customers also wanted to pay by credit card, but that would require the startup to fill out stacks of applications and paperwork that would have outed the operation.Ī TechCrunch investigation based on hundreds of leaked documents can now reveal how the spyware operation evaded detection, and for so long - details which have not been previously reported.įrom its software house in Vietnam, 1Byte devised a network of fake identities with forged American passports to cash out customer payments into bank accounts they controlled. PayPal’s systems would periodically flag transactions and limit access to the spyware maker’s accounts and funds. Selling spyware is fraught with legal and reputational risks, especially in the United States, where the startup saw growing demand for TheTruthSpy. But its rising popularity brought new problems. Other than selling the same apps and living close to each other - something that looks like an unlikely coincidence - Benjamin and Dulce share nothing else in common, except one critical thing: The two sellers exist only on paper.įor years, TheTruthSpy brought 1Byte tens of thousands of dollars in monthly PayPal transactions from customers. But the two bring in huge sums of cash by selling access to TheTruthSpy, a collection of Android so-called “stalkerware” surveillance apps, including Copy9 and MxSpy, which have compromised hundreds of thousands of people’s phones around the world.īenjamin and Dulce are among a wider network of Americans selling the phone spyware, whose involvement helps to conceal the company behind their development, a Vietnam-based startup called 1Byte. They look like small business owners making modest incomes working online. Dulce, 42, lives nearby in a gated community lined with streets of terraced houses and grassy lawns in adjoining Fort Worth.
He seems to keep to himself and eschews social media. Benjamin, 44, has a place by the park in an up-and-coming area of downtown Dallas, Texas.
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