Many are wondering what the economic return behind the major cybercrimes is, how profitable it is to steal credit cards rather than hack payment system accounts, and to answer these questions we need to analyze the offer of the main markets in the dark web so-called black marketplaces. Stealing payment card data is as profitable as it is common, which is why in recent years we have seen a steady increase in the supply of this type of product. Compromise of physical payment systems (PoS), compromise of e-commerce sites, tampering with bank ATMs, and infections with banking Trojans are just some of the possible methods used to collect credit card data from unsuspecting users.
Once this data has been collected, what happens to it? How do you earn from their availability?
There are basically two ways; in the first, criminals attempt to use the cards directly for online purchases of products, often luxury goods, which are then resold through parallel markets or for purchases in stores if the card details are available, which is then cloned; in the second case, the data is resold in the criminal underground through specialized platforms and dark web marketplaces. In this second scenario, the criminals who buy the card data then worry about monetizing in the manner described in the first scenario.
According to the dark web price index published by PrivacyAffairs researchers, the price for credit card data ranges from $ 17 to $ 65 depending on the country of origin. Card data from the United States is the cheapest due to the high availability on the market while cards from Israeli banks are the most expensive.
|
Product |
Avg. dark web Price (USD) |
|
Cloned Mastercard with PIN |
$25 |
|
Cloned American Express with PIN |
$35 |
|
Cloned VISA with PIN |
$25 |
|
Credit card details, account balance up to $1,000 |
$150 |
|
Credit card details, account balance up to $5,000 |
$240 |
|
Stolen online banking logins, minimum $100 on account |
$40 |
|
Stolen online banking logins, minimum $2,000 on account |
$120 |
|
Walmart account with credit card attached |
$14 |
|
Hacked (Global) credit card details with CVV |
$35 |
|
USA hacked credit card details with CVV |
$17 |
|
UK hacked credit card details with CVV |
$20 |
|
Canada hacked credit card details with CVV |
$28 |
|
Australia hacked credit card details with CVV |
$30 |
|
Israel hacked credit card details with CVV |
$65 |
|
Spain hacked credit card details with CVV |
$40 |
|
Japan hacked credit card details with CVV |
$40 |
The price of a cloned card varies from the circuit to which it belongs, Mastercard or VISA, from the country, and obviously from the guaranteed availability of spending. A criminal can therefore get 25 dollars for a cloned Mastercard card with an attached PIN, while for a cloned card with an availability of up to 5000 dollars it can cost up to 240 dollars. Even for cloned cards, we observe the lowest prices for American ones, while Israeli ones are confirmed as the most expensive.
|
Product |
Avg. dark web Price (USD) |
|
Cloned Mastercard with PIN |
$25 |
|
Cloned American Express with PIN |
$35 |
|
Cloned VISA with PIN |
$25 |
|
Credit card details, account balance up to $1,000 |
$150 |
|
Credit card details, account balance up to $5,000 |
$240 |
Another source of profit for cybercriminals who live in the dark part of the web are the accounts of electronic payment systems such as PayPal. In this case it is possible to pay for a compromised account with an availability of at least $ 100, about $ 30, a figure that goes up to $ 120 for a minimum availability of $ 1000. There are also special offers for multiple purchases, for example login credentials for 50 hacked PayPal accounts are available for $ 200.
And what about the opportunity to make money from cryptocurrencies? The rise in prices of major cryptocurrencies and growing interest from criminals is fueling the demand for compromised account credentials of major cryptocurrency exchanges. Credentials to access verified accounts can be purchased for a price ranging from $ 300 for the Crypto.com platform up to $ 810 for the popular Kraken platform.
These accounts are attractive not only for the funds deposited there, but also because they could be used for cryptocurrency laundering activities from ransomware ransomware.
Very important for financial fraud is the availability of counterfeit documents, usually used by cybercriminals to steal victims’ identities and evade controls implemented by multiple platforms to create new accounts or open accounts online.
Fake documents, scans and physical documents can be found in many hacking forums and black marketplaces.
These documents can be customized with the data provided by the buyers and then be used in different types of fraud. For example, a document could be used to request a new SIM in the name of the owner of a bank account or a cryptocurrency management platform that uses the smartphone as an authentication system.
Prices for counterfeit documents vary greatly from seller to seller and are a function of multiple factors, obviously the type of document (eg identity card, driving license, passport), nationality, and the quality of the material used for production.
Prices start from 100 dollars and can go up to 2000 dollars for documents valid for some European countries, this is what I have been able to personally find in the course of several investigations.
In the black marketplaces you can find many other illegal products and services, in the next posts we will continue to explore the dark web to satisfy our curiosity … see you next time!
.