Credit card details are being sold on the dark web for just one cent – as criminals poach $476MILLION from unsuspecting victims
- Cyber criminals steal millions of credit card and bank account details every year
- They also steal login details for Netflix, premium porn websites and Spotify
- Experts say criminals operate in three tiers, one passing info on to another
Credit card details are being sold on the dark web for just one cent.
Experts say cyber criminals are stealing more than $476million from unsuspecting Australians every year.
Credit card numbers are stolen in millions and divided into blocks of 100,000 for sale.
Credit card, Netflix, premium porn sites login, and bank account details are being sold on the dark web for as little as one cent. Experts say these criminals operate in three tiers
Those numbers are then sold and the credit card information is tested with small transactions.
If the transaction is successful, the stolen credit card information is further sold to another tier of criminals for $5 a card.
Commonwealth Bank said its cyber security team regularly trawls the dark web for stolen credit card details.
The bank’s proactive approach has allowed it to identify and close down those credit cards which may been compromised.
‘We’re at the front of the threat curve, searching the Dark Web for evidence of breaches,’ CommBank digital general manager Peter Steel told News Corp.
But he warned that criminals are getting more sophisticated and organised.
Information about fraud attempts is shared among Australian and overseas banks and the Australian Cyber Security Centre.
Credit cards with higher spending limits command more money on the dark web
‘It’s an ongoing arms race between the defenders and the attackers.’
Darkest Web author Eileen Ormsby said premium porn site logins are in high demand on the dark web.
‘They’re sold for about $5 each because the people who have those details are unlikely to complain to anybody about it.’
The latest report from Australian Payments Network noted that online card fraud now accounts for 85 per cent of all fraud on Australian cards, totalling $476.3m in 2017 – up 13.9 per cent.
‘The percentage increase, however, has slowed over the past three years, reflecting the progressive uptake of prevention measures.’