In Frankfurt, Mohammed watched Victor's video with great interest. The fact he had sent out a plea for ideas was almost too good to be true. He’d stalked all of Victor’s social media accounts and regularly commented on his posts using his various fake accounts.
One thing Mohammed liked about Victor was he was such a clueless loser. Based on his own posts he was admittedly a mediocre gamer, a bad son, a lousy employee, and the producer of shitty social media videos. While he clearly had aspirations of being a viral video celebrity and turning it into a career, he just wasn't smart or funny enough. He also didn't have the originality that made people want to watch his videos. They were all embarrassing flops.
Mohammed had several hundred social media accounts on dozens of the major sites. He used random names and random pictures stolen from other profiles. Sometimes he sent friend requests to hundreds of people a day knowing some would accept and allow him to mine their personal information. In fact, it was Mohammed who sent Victor that encouraging message under the name of SouthernRock4Ever. It was all part of the plan. Part of cultivating relationships. Part of the manipulation.
Mohammed took off his headphones and dropped them on his desk.
"Khebat!"
Khebat was working in his own bedroom with headphones on. It took a moment for Mohammed to get his attention.
"What is it?" Khebat said.
"I want you to watch this video. This might be our person."
Khebat watched the video in silence as Victor sought ideas from his nonexistent fans.
"Show me some of his other work," Khebat said.
Mohammed brought up some of Victor's other videos. Khebat simply shook his head. Even though he and Mohammed sometimes didn't understand American humor due to the cultural gap between their countries, it was clear these videos would not be funny in any culture. They were embarrassingly inane. Each joke, each prank, fell flat.
"He's asking for ideas," Mohammed pointed out. "He's desperate for them, in fact. I’ve long suspected he was weak of character and desperately seeking attention. I’ve been growing a relationship with him and establishing familiarity under several accounts but this is where I need to put my focus. The video confirms it. He may be perfect."
“Throw an idea at him,” Khebat said. “See what happens. What do you have to lose?”
Mohammed had a flash of Machmud’s face as the burning oil was poured into his ear. He was well aware of what they had to lose and how painfully they might lose it.
“Any suggestions?”
“What about that flash mob thing you’ve been talking about?” Khebat suggested.
“Perfect.”
“And one more thing,” Khebat said.
“What is it?”
“I think you should go at him as a woman,” Khebat said. “He probably has very little experience with women. It will disarm him and lower his suspicions.”
Mohammed nodded. Khebat was correct, and he knew just the profile to use.