Effective fraudsters hold information, and a lot of it. In this piece, I will outline 3 methods that are employed by fraudsters in order to create the mountain of payment information, profile information and more.
1 . Physically Steal It
This method needs no real explanation. Street level criminals in one way or another steal the cards or checks and attempt to use the stolen items as payment or sell them to a higher-level fraudster for a flat rate. This method brings with it the highest-risk and the lowest probability of success for two reasons: the victims are typically aware that the items have gone missing and immediately report the theft to their financial institution, which disables the cards or reassigns new check account numbers.
2. Buy it (Non-Physical)
Buying stolen information is remarkably simple. Anyone with criminal connections can easily put the word out, announcing that they are willing to pay or trade for stolen credit card information. The requirements are known through word of mouth and typically require a considerable amount of finesse when compared to the first method.
Locally, fraudsters will tell people in their network what they are looking for and will even work with escorts, drug dealers, and others by supplying them with card readers, which will copy the information encoded on a mag strip. That outlines local acquisition.
For everything else, there’s Mastercard—-
Erm…. For everything else, there’s BTC / Darkweb.
3. Create It
Master fraudsters can use everything presented to them…… Everything.
All of the information that is presented to a master fraudster is good for something.
Closed bank accounts can still be accessed for information or used for payment at stores which do subscribe to ChexSystems or Certigy (and there are enough).
The credit card that was stolen from Jack Doe and immediately reported and closed, can be generated from in order to access Jill Doe, Mary Doe, John Smith, John Wick, Elizabeth Whoever and literally thousands of others
Car titles can be repurpose.
Social Security cards are repurposed.
ID’s of people with bad credit can be repurposed and used with profiles of people who have good credit.
Then there’s Photoshop……
