EAST LANSING, Mich.—Just how much are crooks making from the batches of credit card data they steal and then resell through online forums?
To the surprise of no one in credit unions, it’s a lot of money, according to a new report from a research team led by Michigan State University criminologist Thomas Holt. The study is one of the first efforts to examine card data theft and its profits at the wholesale level
A hacker can make between $250,000 and $1 million by selling a batch of 50 to 100 credit card numbers, the study shows. A shrewd buyer can then turn those stolen card numbers into between $2 million and $8 million, though the risk of getting caught is higher for the buyer than the seller, the Detroit Free Press shared in its analysis of the survey.
Holt's research examined online forums, essentially electronic markets, that appear in both Russian and English. The online marketplace for stolen information has developed into a mature illegal business, noted the newspaper, citing Holt’s report.