Cybercrime, the bane of online transactions

By IB Times Staff Reporter: Subscribe to IB's

January 30, 2011 3:56 AM EST

Cybercrime is a thriving online business in which anything to do with cyber transactions involving credit/debit cards, bank account details, fake online stores or a fake ATM machine are all available at a price.

PandaLabs,an international network of research and technical support centers fighting viruses and malware, has given a list of prices for the common online thefts occurring every day. Bank account details -- for accounts with six figure balances -- are available for $80 to $700. Credit card machines go for $200 to $1,000 and a fake ATM machine for $3,500. One can design and publish a fake online store for $30 to $300. Money laundering is on offer for anywhere between 10 to 40 per cent of the amount.

With the economic recession, the demand for such thieving methods has increased. It works like any demand and supply model, reports PandaLabs. “This cyber-criminal black market caters to buyers’ needs just like any other business and functions in similar ways,” the company says. “Since there is a great deal of competition in this industry, the rule of supply and demand ensures that prices are competitive, and operators even offer bulk discounts to higher-volume buyers,” the report continues. “They will offer free ‘trial’ access to stolen bank or credit card details, as well as money back guarantees and free exchanges.”

Access

If you know where to look, there are any number of underground forums which can give you easy leads to the black market for such goods. The payments are ordinarily through Western Union and Webmoney. The business is anonymous and counducted through instant messaging apps.

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Statistics show how many people have been victims. The figures have been compiled by collating data from several sources including Norton, Wikipedia and the I.D. Theft Center.

1.6 milllion households in America have had their bank account credit/debit card information compromised.

According to a Norton report, nearly 65 per cent of global citizens have been victims of Cybercrime.

50 per cent of the victims come to know of the crime within 3 months but a good 15 per cent discover the theft 3-4 years later.

On an average $4,850 are stolen from Americans which means nearly three month’s salary for some.

The common methods of stealing are:

Skimming information during transactions

Hacking online when you e-shop

Discarded hardware. When peripherals are not disposed of properly dumpster and bin trawling is done to collect these, which can contain valuable data.

This article is copyrighted by International Business Times, the business news leader
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