SAYS SYMANTEC REPORT
Stolen credit cards selling on the Web
By Lawrence Casiraya
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 17:16:00 12/04/2008
Filed Under: Technology (general), Hacking, Internet
MAKATI CITY, Philippine – Stolen credit cards can be purchased on the Internet for low as 10 cents (about P5 pesos), but collectively, fraudsters could be raking in as much as $5 billion, according to a Symantec report.
Credit card details and bank accounts -- stolen, of course -- are the most advertised goods in the Web's "underground" economy, according to the report.
The report is derived from data gathered by Symantec's Security Technology and Response (STAR) organization, from underground economy servers from July 2007 to June this year. Symantec said the potential value of stolen goods advertised on the Web is estimated to be more than $276 million for the period alone.
The value was determined using the advertised prices of the goods and services and how much advertisers would make if they liquidated their inventory.
Credit card information is the most advertised category of goods and services on the underground economy, accounting for more than 30 percent of the total.
While stolen credit card numbers sell for as little as $0.10 to $25 per card, the average advertised stolen credit card limit observed by Symantec was more than $4,000.
Symantec has calculated that the potential worth of all credit cards advertised during the reporting period was $5.3 billion.
Credit card details remain popular because of the many ways they can be stolen and often difficult for merchants or credit providers to identify and address fraudulent transactions before fraudsters complete these transactions and receive their goods.
Also, credit card information is often sold to fraudsters in bulk, with discounts or free numbers provided with larger purchases.
The second most common category of goods and services advertised was financial accounts at 20 percent of the total, according to Symantec's report.
While stolen bank account information sells for between $10 and $1,000, the average advertised stolen bank account balance is nearly $40,000, the report noted.
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