RaFa the hacker reached out to me with a worried email. He claims he’s now a Buddhist. Is he a hacker who practices Buddhism, or a Buddhist who hacks? Let’s find out:
Email from RaFa Hacker to Alek Boyd
RaFa claims he has no connections with the Derwick boys (don’t worry about deleting, I’ve got backups), yet an associate registered domains linked to all Derwick Associates executives. Let me quote myself:
Even though he professes to be a mindful Buddhist aware of karma, RaFa appears to have no qualms about offering his skills to individuals with deeply questionable reputations, or to outright criminals (he is one, after all). We’re not talking about an ethical hacker here; it’s more like a black hat hacker. But in Venezuela, where anything is possible and authorities largely ignore most crimes, the ones RaFa and his clients are involved in are way beyond what Venezuelan law enforcement can handle.
In the current morally dubious and corrupt chavista climate, RaFa is truly flourishing. Nowadays, he spends his time giving IT lectures, has representatives seeking business in the USA, and is negotiating directly with the chavista regime on behalf of Germany-owned Bundesdruckerei. This last role has likely granted him access to the personal identification information of all Venezuelans (which he uses with discretion).
RaFa insists he harbors no campaign against me, yet an associate has.
Recently registered… let me quote myself again:
Then RaFa’s man (Carlos Diaz of [email protected]) quickly bought up alekboyd.org, .net, .info, and aleksanderboydarregui.com, .org, .net, and .info, using my old address in Caracas (I know for sure he doesn’t live there). Videos and blogs accusing me of being a “drug trafficker” have been, and continue to be, posted on YouTube and Dailymotion. In the latest attempt, my critics created a YouTube account impersonating my mother and then that of Diego Arria (a former Special Advisor to the U.N. Secretary General). There’s also the absurd and homophobic claims printed in Primicias24.com, a chavista site that even claimed I “had AIDS” and was “irresponsibly spreading” it. Other allegations have been made about my supposed skills at “building drug trafficking submarines” (an activity my own mother is supposedly involved in) and that I “stole 500 kgs of cocaine in 1995.”
RaFa is in a bit of a bind here, you see. One of the “jobs” he’s landed is representing Bundesdruckerei in Venezuela. Sorry for the repeated self-quoting:
Following previous exposés about RaFa, the criminal of choice for all online reputation management needs of the Boliburgeoisie appointed by Bundesdruckerei (BDR), Der Spiegel today questions Germany’s stance on the issue. As the subheading states, “Doch das Finanzministerium, zustiindig fur den Konzern, greift nicht ein”, it seems Germany’s Ministry of Finance, overseeing that BDR adheres to regulations as a State-owned entity, simply doesn’t care about RaFa’s questionable history and practices.
But how did RaFa manage to get that “job”?
Cuba designated something called ALBET (“Sociedad Mercantil ALBET Ingeniería y Sistemas,” incorporated 7th November 2005) as its representative in the deal. ALBET is essentially a front organization for a Cuban IT institute. They’re definitely not a recognized entity in the latest electronic ID technology advancements. Consequently, ALBET, lacking know-how and expertise, sought out bids using the $172 million allocated by Venezuela for the project, requesting Bundesdruckerei to propose bids for new electronic IDs, passports (both diplomatic and regular), and special printers. Bundesdruckerei obliged, but its representative, Jörg Baumgartl, established a complex proxy scheme that would ultimately win bids.
Baumgartl is Bundesdruckerei’s Managing Director and oversees international sales. The company had conducted deals directly with the Venezuelan government before, but in this iteration, Baumgartl opted to go through Billingsley Global Corp., a Panamanian proxy he created for this purpose. The reasons for this move are unclear but likely relate to sidestepping potential issues with US government sanctions against Cuba.
As mentioned, in 2009, Bundesdruckerei became state-owned. Despite police raids and alleged embezzlement scandals involving millions by a Panamanian entity, Baumgartl has maintained his position. More shocking, given the new ownership, is Baumgartl’s choice of representative for Venezuela.
Readers may recall frequent mentions of Rafael Núñez (aka “RaFa”), known for orchestrating online reputation campaigns for Venezuela’s worst white-collar criminals. As evidenced in a communication dated 1 March 2012, Baumgartl appointed BV Estrategia Reputacional and its subsidiary, Clean Perception, as Bundesdruckerei’s commercial representative in Venezuela. In other words, Frau Merkel’s representative in Venezuela is affiliated with a well-known criminal.
Even though he was appointed Bundesdruckerei’s representative in Venezuela on 1 March 2012, BV Estrategia Reputacional was incorporated in Curaçao on 9 March 2012, according to registry documents. Núñez openly flaunts his connection to Bundesdruckerei, in fact, he takes pride in it.
RaFa asserts he would NEVER partake in a smear campaign against anyone. He’s supposed to be a “Buddhist,” you see. The problem for RaFa is that ample evidence exists online of a defamation campaign (using the same baseless arguments aimed at me) directed against a guy named Alberto Parra Wallis. And who is this Alberto Parra Wallis, you ask? He’s the former Bundesdruckerei representative in Venezuela, currently embroiled in a legal battle with Jörg Baumgartl, the very guy who appointed RaFa as Bundesdruckerei’s new rep.
I realize that, due to my years of blogging on corruption, I probably am on several Boligarchs and chavistas’ hit lists. But isn’t it too coincidental that Parra Wallis and I both appear on the same shady websites, in posts using identical fabricated accusations? I understand that Parra Wallis is a businessman, suing parties related to Bundesdruckerei in Germany, and taking proactive steps to have all the negative information spread by RaFa against him taken down.
Buddhist or not, RaFa is a convicted criminal. He spent time in the US for defacing an official website, resulting in his deportation. I’ve heard he’s trying to obtain a visa to travel again to America. I also know he’s furious about actions taken by Crowdflower, Twitter, and Google against his “online reputation practices” after I notified them: Crowdflower suspended campaigns for his clients, Twitter shut down an army of bot accounts he used to spread misinformation about his clients, and Google’s Matt Cutts investigated his “Ramiro Helmeyer campaign,” removing irrelevant content aimed at depicting a convicted terrorist and assassin in a positive light.
A source informed me that RaFa may have bribed some rogue employees within the Googleplex to alter search results for his clients. I will, of course, publicize this evidence as soon as I obtain it. Then we’ll see what consequences—for RaFa and his business—arise from these actions…
UPDATE 1 Jun 19:12 GMT: having been caught lying about his ties with Derwick, RaFa deleted tweets from his account touting Derwick’s “achievements”, following my posting of his tweets. As Setty pointed out, he seems to think digital footprints vanish instantly. And this is the so-called ethical Buddhist hacker, remember?
Tweets from Rafael Núñez supporting Derwick