<h2>New Case</h2>
Today, a woman contacted me. From her accent, it was clear she was from the south of Russia—most likely from that very south near the Georgian border.
<img class=”size-medium wp-image-1132 alignleft” src=”https://hacker4u.ru/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/file_00000000102061f884514deda5fd8f96-200×300.png” alt=”Social engineer” width=”200″ height=”300″ />It all started with an unexpectedly gentle opening:
— “Please help us, our teenager has gone missing—18 years old.”
It sounds almost childlike, doesn’t it? It even brought to mind a line from an old children’s song: <em>“Don’t call an elephant a baby.”</em> But behind that phrasing was a real drama.
As the conversation unfolded, it became clear: their only son was driving his father’s car without a license and completely ignoring his parents’ calls. For the family, it felt like a catastrophe.
To be honest, I don’t understand parents who allow their children to play such dangerous games. It’s no joke—what if he hits someone?
But anyway. According to his mother, the guy had “run away from home.” And then the real “berries” began:
<em>“He’s about to receive a draft notice, and what if he doesn’t show up? They’ll start looking for him…”</em>
— “Can you help determine his location? We already found him once in an internet café. Another time we even sent a girl to invite him on a date, and then we brought him home. The police used to help before, but now they say he’s an adult and they won’t get involved,” the mother told me.
<h3>My Children and Other People’s Fears</h3>
I’m a father of three myself. My son is also 18, and there are two things that never happen in our family:
<ol>
<li><strong>My children do not ignore calls from their parents.</strong> Even if it’s inconvenient, they’ll answer and say, “Dad, if it’s not urgent, I’ll call you back later.”</li>
<li><strong>My children are not afraid of their parents.</strong> They calmly share what’s going on in their lives and don’t expect judgment or punishment.</li>
</ol>
I’m not a psychologist. At one point I even tried studying to become a kindergarten teacher—but quit after a week, and rightly so.
<h3>Hacker vs. Psychologist</h3>
Let’s be honest: a hacker is sometimes more effective than any psychologist. Because a successful hacker understands perfectly how people think.
99.9% of hacks don’t happen because technology is weak, but because a person made the right move—clicked, agreed, gave in. Before that, the hacker may have spent weeks preparing the ground so the victim would open the door themselves.
The same applies here: the parents didn’t need a “computer hacker,” they needed a <strong>social engineer</strong>—someone who understands how thinking and behavior work.
From this woman’s words, it became clear that her son still lives in conditions where he isn’t even allowed to “have a quiet moment alone in the bathroom.” At 18, he still doesn’t have his own life. And when someone constantly presses you with authority, it’s natural to stop wanting to communicate with those who apply the pressure.
It’s obvious this didn’t start yesterday—it’s been going on for years. Most likely, it grew out of classic teenage protest:
<em>“I didn’t ask to be born!”</em>
<h3>But the Ending Was Different</h3>
Unfortunately, I had to refuse this woman’s request to help determine her son’s location. I will not hack the geolocation of an adult, legally competent man—even if for his parents he is still a “teenager.” And there are two reasons for that.
<strong>The moral aspect:</strong>
<ol>
<li>Intruding into the life of a child who has just escaped a cage (even a golden one) would mean betraying my own childhood—those moments when I discovered the world, which are among my brightest memories.</li>
<li>I have three children. And I don’t want them to ever see me behind bars. In Russia, the consequences for hacking someone’s location can be far more serious than they seem.</li>
</ol>
<hr />
A hacker can help in hundreds of situations. But there are boundaries that must not be crossed. And the ability to say “no” is what truly makes a person free.
<hr />
But the story didn’t end there. I offered help not as a hacker, but as a <strong>social engineer</strong>—and also as a father and an experienced salesman. I managed to reach the guy by phone, and after 32 minutes of conversation he agreed to return home. The long conversation ahead, however, is with his parents—because sometimes the hardest thing to hack isn’t a system, but the habits of adults.