The real barrier to entry here is the stress. Always feeling those butterflies when the phone rings - getting nervous when you see a police car - freaking out a little when the doorbell rings.
It's no way to live - and don't even think about having a family/kids after you get involved. You'll die early of the stress.
If you think you're a master 1337 hacker or online drug dealer - just get a job in IT security. It pays better, comes with zero stress.
15+ years ago when I was hacking and doing credit card fraud, I could make $1000 cash a day without a lot of effort or time. Because I was careful about protecting myself and didn't work a lot I didn't have much stress. I have far more stress with a full time job.
That said, the drug game would be a lot more stressful.
Might be dated at this point, but a chapter in Freakonomics was about the economics of being a gang affiliated drug dealer in the US. The analysis there was that outside the top couple guys, the actual pay wasn't much better than just working as a fry cook or whatever, while the risk of being arrested or shot was much, much higher.
So even in criminal enterprises, I think you have to move up the distribution chain a ways to see the big $
> get a job in IT security. It pays better, comes with zero stress.
I beg to differ. All IT jobs have stress, but security by definition stresses you about things that haven't happened yet. If you have zero stress doing IT security, you're doing it wrong. Still immensely better than crime, though.
It's no way to live - and don't even think about having a family/kids after you get involved. You'll die early of the stress.
If you think you're a master 1337 hacker or online drug dealer - just get a job in IT security. It pays better, comes with zero stress.