Cyber Security Institute

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Card fraudsters: A world unto themselves

Some 12 online credit card fraud networks are in operation today with active traders on some Web sites numbering between 7000 and 9000, according to a Secret Service agent going by the name of Jake Jacobson.  With quasi-military business models, alleged parliamentary links and even feedback forums on the more current “carding forums,” the proceeds of some heists have reaped more than $15.9 million from stolen data, according to the interior minister of “one country.”  At times Jacobson had those attending his presentation at this year’s Australia Computer Emergency Response Team (AusCert) conference in Queensland last week laughing out loud—not at the terrible crimes of teenage Ukrainian youth, but at the extent of the operations with one crudely-named network even sponsoring state-endorsed cultural events and advertising an online site.

He outlined one operation, Operation Firewall, which in July 2003 netted the perpetrators behind Shadowcrew, Carderplanet, and Darkprofits sites.  “By early 2003, things were rolling; we saw sites like the Brotherhood of Carders (8600 user accounts) as well buying and selling information hacked out of the system, but there was no resource more responsible than Carderplanet,” Jacobson said.

The Russian speaking community, the Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic communities are unmatched as a source for [financial] crime and no other community comes close.”  Jacobson said that more recently, carding forums have added feedback forums.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9000808&source=rss_topic82