fbi Most Wanted Girlfriend: The Futurist Model of Fugitive Trans Hacker and Merchandiser Maia Arson Crimew’s Meaning Making

Abstract

We are used to hearing about cybercriminals promoting themselves, but what if the merchandise a cybercriminal made about their own hacking experience revealed more about who they are?  American law enforcement officials indicted Swiss trans hacktivist maia arson crimew in March 2021 for over a dozen hacks where she publicly disclosed proprietary information from more than a hundred organizations.  Officials noted the profit from “hacking-inspired clothing” she created as an overt act in her criminal conspiracy.  This practitioner’s case study applies theoretical frameworks of psychological ownership and egocentric categorization, to explore how possessing products and creating products communicates the kind of person you are and the kind of person you want to become, suggesting maia’s merchandising may have been how she made meaning rather than a criminal act in a conspiracy.  This practitioner’s case study will analyze samples of her merchandise within these frameworks.  This paper will provide further context for that analysis with review of a sample of her podcast interviews in the immediate years after her indictment.  This practitioner’s case study suggests that applying these alternative frameworks to behavioral analysis of cybercrime personalities like maia that proclaim a range of motivations and identities, could provide greater insight into increasingly diffuse hack-and-leak narratives across cybercrime communities.