Recent Bust Reveals the Anatomy of an Online Crime Site
January 28th, 2010 by Max Anhoury
After a three-year investigation by the FBI and the UK’s Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA), British authorities announced they have arrested the sophisticated network of cyber criminals behind DarkMarket, one of the world’s top criminal websites. The site, which operated out of an unassuming London Internet café, was an international cyber supermarket for stolen credit card and bank account information that officials say has cost the banking industry tens of millions of dollars.
According to a recent article, “Welcome to DarkMarket: a global shop for cybercrime and banking fraud,” the DarkMarket site was an online superstore of personal data, viruses, tutorials, and a whole host of other resources for fraudsters. In order to gain access to the site, which was by invitation only, those wanting to become members had to offer up details of 100 compromised credit cards – 50 each to two separate members who would then test the cards in the market to see if the information was valid. If the information was usable, the applicant would gain entrance to the site. If not, access would be denied.
Once in, members could trade everything from credit card details to bank account PIN numbers obtained through hacking, phishing scams, and ATM skimming devices. The site even had a crime “menu,” where for very reasonable prices, members could purchase, among other things:
- Information needed for online transactions ($3-$10 depending on quality)
- Credit card images ($30 each)
- Bank logins (2% of available balance)
- Billing details needed for opening or taking over accounts ($150 for accounts of $10k balances, $300 for accounts with balances of $20k)
Of the estimated 2,000 members who had access to the site, so far the bust has led to the arrest of more than 60 members who are scattered throughout the globe, in countries including the UK, United States, Canada, Germany, France Turkey, Israel and Russia.
The scope and reach of the DarkMarket website underscores the magnitude of such an operation, as well as the growing problem of organized fraud. With more personal information accessible over the Internet, cyber criminals have built thriving illegal networks to buy, sell and trade financial data and share information on how to defraud all types of online businesses. Certainly businesses are dealing with an increasingly sophisticated threat and must continually evolve and be vigilant to defend their businesses from attack.
Tags: credit card fraud, identity theft, Online Fraud, scammer
