The cybercrime has a significant economic impact on the economy of every Government, it costs the UK £27 billion a year, and the Centre for Economics and Business Research estimated the same cost at £34 billion a year for businesses alone.
Stolen card data of 100,000 Britons for sale on the clear web
15.2.2016
A website on the clear web is offering for sale stolen card data from more than a million people worldwide including more than 100,000 Britons.
According to a report published by The Times, the website Bestvalid.cc is offering for sale stolen credit and debit card details of 100,000 Britons.
Banking details stolen from more than a million people worldwide goes for £1.67, the list of victims includes former senior adviser to the Queen, bankers, doctors and lawyers.
The site is available on the surface web since at least June and journalists are surprised that law enforcement hasn’t yes seized it.
“The National Crime Agency must act immediately to get this site closed. I will be writing to the NCA to bring this issue to their attention,” said Keith Vaz, chairman of the home affairs select committee.
Politicians are urging the intervention of the police, black marketplaces could be used by the organized crime and radical groups to fund terrorism and other illegal activities.
Aligned with the offer in many black markets hosted on dark web, Bestvalid.cc appears like an ordinary e-commerce, it includes a customer service and refund services for faulty products.
Users can buy stolen payment card data, often completed with further information (i.e. common answer to online banking security questions, postal address of the card holder) that could be used for more sophisticated scams.
A journalist at the Times paid for a lot of data including information from one person he is in contact. He paid in Bitcoin of course and received a package including debit card number, security code, expiry date, mobile phone number and postal address.
When the journalist presented the data to the victim, Laia Humbert-Vidan, 30, a radiotherapy physicist from London, said was disconcerted.
“I don’t feel like the police are able to protect anyone from online fraud. If they were, these types of sites would not exist in the first place.” said Laia Humbert-Vidan.
In the last months the underground market was flooded of data from major data breaches, including the TalkTalk and Carphone Warehouse,
Bestvalid is not hidden in the dark web, it is easy to access and it is one of the biggest websites offering stolen card data.
The cybercrime has a significant economic impact on the economy of every Government, it costs the UK £27 billion a year, and the Centre for Economics and Business Research estimated the same cost at £34 billion a year for businesses alone.