Cybercrime, a bane of modern living is a thriving online business where anything to do with cyber transactions involving credit/debit cards, bank account details, fake online stores to a fake ATM machine- all are available at a price.

One would be amazed at what is on offer at very reasonable prices. Webster Consulting has leant, and published below, a list of prices for the common online thefts that occur every day.
Bank account details, six figure ones, for $80 to $700 are available, credit card machines for $200-1000 and a fake ATM machine for $3500. Design and publish a fake online store for $30-300. 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 modes has increased. It works like any demand and supply model and PandaLabs report that, “This cyber-criminal black market caters to buyers’ needs just like any other business and functions in similar ways.” “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

Where do you get access to such suppliers. This was not easy before, but if you know where to look ,there are any number of underground forums which can give you easy leads. And the mode of payment is ordinarily through Western Union and Webmoney. The business is aonymous and counducted through IM applications.

Here are some statistics to show how many people have been their victims. The figures have been compiled by collating data from Norton, Sam Franada of Lines & Moodswings ,Wikipedia and the I.D. Theft Center and other sources.

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

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

Hotspots where adults have experienced cybercrime include: 83%, China; 76% Brazil/India; 73% USA.

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 after.

On an average $4850 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

From discarded hardware. When peripheral are not disposed off properly dumpster and bin trawling s done to collect these.

Over the shoulder peeping and gathering information when one logs in.

Surprisingly 43 per cent of the victims know their perpetrators so do not trust easily.

Malaware

The industry which caters to these cyber trawlers are the malaware developers , the Trojan virus being the most prominent.. Trojan accounts for 71 per cent of all new malaware. Nearly 99 per cent of them are targeted to Windows operating systems.

The PandaLabs report says that in 2003 there were not more than 30,000 strains of cataloged malaware the figures rose to 60 million by 2010.

New targets of cybercrime

According to a new 2010 Cisco Annual security Report about cyber crime; with all organisation shoring up their Windows operating systems, the hackers are increasingly targeting other operating systems and platforms like smart phones, tablet computers, and mobile platforms .

Money Mulers: People are recruited all over the world to set up bank accounts, or even use their own bank accounts, to help scammers “cash out” or launder money. There are thousands who must have received requests for such money laundering through e-mails which claim dire straits or used famous names who would offer a part of the money to allow them access to your account.

Trust exploitation : This is through social networks and emails where they prey upon human weaknesses like greed, vanity and sloth.

Much has been written about how to save yourself and your account by indulging in safe transactions and not revealing or storing personal details in easily accessible places. However there are, and will be even more, people who have and will continue to find themselves victims of cybercrime The most important thing is to be aware of such crimes and how easy it is to perpetrate them .

If you require help or support or indeed have any questions please leave your reply in the box delow.