Internet exchange for fraudulent credit card data uncovered

Finjan says site typical of criminal underground use of the Net

(02.04.08) - Researchers at Finjan have revealed the existence of another underground exchange service - SellCVV2 - promoting the sale of fraudulent credit card data with guarantees and volume discounts for large-scale fraudsters.

"The site, which appears to use Google's Blogspot service, is typical of a number of portals promoting the exchange of fraudulent card data. But what is apparent from the SellCVV2 site is the level of commercialization of the traders involved," said Yuval Ben-Itzhak, Finjan's chief technology officer.

"Prices are segmented depending on whether a card is a Classic Visa or MasterCard, a premium account such as a Gold, Platinum or Business/Corporate card and its country of issue," he said.

"Prices typically range from 38.00 Dollar per set of card data for premium card accounts in small volumes, going down to 10.00 Dollar for Classic card data in volumes of 100 or more. Customers are also being offered trial set of data, as well as a guarantee on account details that do not work," he added.

The fact that trial card data, guarantees and volume discounts are being offered is, says Ben-Itzhak, symptomatic of the organised criminal activities who are probably behind this and other sites that Finjan's research team have discovered.

"If further proof were needed that there is a very serious problem facing the card acceptance and processing industry, this is it. The level of sophistication shown on the site, acts as a clear warning to anyone who thinks card fraud is a containable problem," he said. (Finjan: ra)