Your identity stolen for just 50p
Despite the credit crunch, there are many things you can still buy for 50 pence. A can of drink, a chocolate bar, a newspaper. However, there are several more sinister things 50p can gain you in the right circles – a person’s complete identity including their name, where they live, when they were born and their credit card details.
The shock news comes from research carried out by internet security firm Symantec and shows that online fraud is still a massive problem despite the legal economy still suffering from recession.
Symantec’s Chief Scientist, Guy Bunker reported: “This recession-proof underground economy is reaching such a level of growth and maturity that there are signs of a price war developing, as online criminals find it increasingly easy to steal private details, and barter to sell them for bargain prices.”
Details are stolen through a variety of online methods. One of the most popular are ‘phishing’ websites, which have similar names and designs to official pages – such as banks – but are actually just smoke screens for criminals to steal personal data. Viruses such as worms or trojans are also common, recording all keystrokes and feeding them back to hackers in chat rooms who can then use the details to logon to services such as internet banking.
The low prices show just how much competition there is in underground communities to steal data. Countries such as India and Brazil are likely candidates for intelligent young hackers to find details and sell them on for prices ranging from 40p to over £600 for full bank details. Prices vary based on the quality of the accounts in question.
Despite these claims, millions of people use their credit card on the internet every day without any harm. Using the right precautions, it’s not difficult for most people to remain safe online. Make sure the sites you are viewing are genuine and update your antivirus software as regularly as possible.