I'd Buy That for $10
date 07-10-2008 08:14 AM author M.K. Low writes:
The costs of most goods are so much higher than they were 30 years ago. Back then, cars were under $10,000 (I remember this because the Price is Right only had four missing digits in their Lucky Seven game). You could feed a family of four for $10 and even have change left over to buy a 25 cent candy bar. But what can you buy for $10 in 2008? I could buy just under three gallons of gas for my car, which would probably last me a couple of days. I could buy lunch at the local sushi place but only lunch since there wouldn't be enough left to buy something to drink. Or, I could buy 10 United States identities.
On underground economy servers, criminals sell a variety of illegal goods and services including bank account credentials, credit card numbers, and full identities. Typically, these goods are used for identity theft related activities. In the ISTR XIII, Symantec observed that the cost of a full identity was 10 times cheaper than it was at the beginning of 2007 and has gained in popularity to become the number three top ranked item advertised for sale. The contents of a full identity may vary, depending on the seller: it typically consists of a name, address, date of birth, phone number, and/or Social Security number. I've also seen sellers include extras such as driver’s license number, mother’s maiden name, email address, or “secret” questions/answers to entice buyers.
Most people associate identity theft with money as most reported cases involve criminals using the identity for activities such as obtaining credit cards, applying for loans, obtaining expensive medical or pharmaceutical treatments, or stealing homes. Financial identity theft is only one of the many types of identity theft that exists. The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) categorizes identity theft into five major types: financial (the identity is used to obtain goods and services), criminal (the identity is used during a criminal investigation or arrest), commercial (the identity of a business is used to obtain credit), governmental (the identity is used to obtain government issued documents such as a passport or driver's license), and cloning (the identity is assumed by another and used on a daily basis).
Once a criminal purchases a full identity, it can be used to accomplish a variety of tasks, including making a lot of money. Usually, they change the victim's mailing address to route all mail, including credit card bills and financial statements to another location. The criminal can then conduct fraudulent activities without the victim's knowledge and make a tidy profit from them. And unless the victim diligently monitors their credit activity, it may take months to clear up these activities from their credit rating. A recent survey showed that, on average, criminals obtained $5,720 in goods and services from each fraud victim. Now's let's apply that to the 10 United States identities that I could buy for $10. This means that I could theoretically make a total of $57,200 from those 10 identities. Not a bad profit for a $10 investment in this day and age!
十美元，我来这个
现在比起三十年前物价飞涨。在过去汽车不过十万刀就能拿下。10刀够四口之家饱餐一顿，另外还能省下25美分的棒糖钱。但在2008年10刀能值多少呢？我可以用它买不足3加仑的汽油，或许开车还用上几天。我或许会选择在附近的料理店进午餐，但剩下的钱还不够买喝的。哦，也许我可以买10个美国身份。
在黑市的站点上，贩子们兜售一系列的非法商品从银行帐户信息，信用卡号码到完整的的公民个人信息。
这些“商品”多用做从事与身份盗窃相关的活动。对ISTR XII 的观察中，赛门铁克发现一套完整的身份信息
的花费已经照07年初便宜了近十倍，并广受欢迎成为了第三位被广为推介的“商品”。 一套完整身份的具体内容因卖方而异：一般包括姓名，住址，出生日期，电话和/或社会保险号码。我也曾见过有人通过附加 驾驶证号码、母亲本姓、电子邮件地址或保密问题/答案 来吸引买家的。