The DarkMarket Forum was an international website that enabled fraudsters to buy and sell credit card details. It was shut down in October, and in the process, 60 criminals across the globe were caught and arrested.
Supervisory Special Agent J. Keith Mularski detained the cyber-criminals, and in his visit to the UK, he dispelled the myth that cyber-crime is drastically different to traditional organised crime.
“It’s kinda like the (TV show) Sopranos,” he told visitors to the Annual Get Safe Online Summit. “They organise themselves like the Italian Mafia, which made it easy for me to relate to,” added the agent, who has a CV filled with success stories of bringing down traditional mafia groups.
They also make huge sums of money. A recent Symantec report revealed the value of every credit card that can be bought online totals £3 billion. Stolen credit card numbers can cost as little as 7p.
Agent Mularski explained that cyber-criminals have the same structure, rules and even some of the same methods as the traditional mafia.
For instance, earlier this year, a Turkish hacker called ‘Kier’, who was found to be helping the media and police investigate cyber-crime in the country, was kidnapped and tortured by a notorious hacker called Chao, and his henchmen.
Kier disappeared in May, and shortly after, an image of him stripped down to his underwear holding up a sign, was posted at the DarkMarket Forum. The sign read: “I am Kier. I am rat. I am pig. I am reporter. I am f****d by Chao.” He reappeared briefly, before disappearing again, according to reports.
Computer Shopper found out more about how the Cyber Mafia operates, courtesy of the FBI. We’ve compiled a special report, which you can read in our next issue.
0 comments:
Post a Comment