John was a poor 25 year old man living in slums with his parents. One day he noticed that his neighbor who only finished primary school drives a new AUDI A7. He asked where he got that much money from, and the neighbor decided to get him into this business if he gave him a percentage of his income.
It was about finding people (money mules) who have nothing to lose and need money. Usually they were vagabonds or people with loans. The next step was falsifying the employment certificate and going to many stores (mostly electronic). Money mule took the stuff for credit, then John usually gave him about 10-20% of the value in cash and he sold the item in a pawnshop or a friend for half the price. Of course, even one installment of the loan was not paid. Using one money mule John could earn up to several thousand dollars.
Unfortunately, the police quickly notices such scams and John was put before the judge. However, he managed to intimidate the witnesses quite well and was sentenced only to one and a half years in prison. He hid money abroad, where were safe and waited for his return. By the way, he met many more people from the underworld and after leaving the prison with a large sum of money opened more illegal businesses.
If you want to continue the story, or history about other illegal businesses, let me know!