NESTA Crime Online - University of Brighton Repository

allow them to secure high profit margins and maintain the barriers of entry. Meanwhile,
at the lower level of the chain, criminal activity (the cashiers and criminal gangs) is
becoming more sophisticated in organisational management, increasing the number of
victims and multiplying their comparably lower profit-margin activities.
2.2.1 Capabilities and specialisation for data harvesting
(a) Use of non-cyber skills to harvest data.
Credit card fraudsters and identity thieves use a combination of ‘traditional’ skills to
acquire data and perpetrate fraud. Rummaging in trashcans for personal and financial
data is a tried and tested way but increasingly unrewarding as more people now use
shredders. Rummaging is also time consuming and can sometimes yield little for the
effort expended whilst running the risk of being caught or arousing suspicion. 177
A quicker, more effective and increasingly common method involves working with
‘subcontractors’ or thieves. Cybercriminals pay them well - each card is worth £250 and
if accompanied by a PIN, it fetches about £500. 178 ‘Insider agents’, employees of
companies such as in financial institutions, call centres and bars and restaurants are the
prime targets. “They [the fraudsters] just brazenly hang around outside the office
complex gates,” admits a Risk and Security Manager of a leading online computer
retailer. 179 Prices will be lower if the call centres are in low cost countries, such as India,
where passwords, addresses and passport details can change hands for a little more
than £4. 180
Credit card fraudsters and identity thieves directly approach potential accomplices who
have two distinct characteristics: (1) those who have easy access to customers’ personal
or financial details; (2) those in poorly paid jobs with access to financial data, so the
financial incentive is so attractive that it outweighs concerns about collusion with the
fraudster. Fraudsters who use this approach report a high level of cooperation and admit
177 According to a manager in a credit checking company the “going rate” for three ‘identifiers’ for the same
individuals was worth £5 to the homeless in Camden who were ‘contracted’ to rummage through the rubbish
bins. Identifiers which could be used to apply for a passport was worth £50. Interview conducted on 29 th
January 2008.
178 192.com Business Services, (2008), The Fraudster’s Modus Operandi. London.
179 192.com Business Services, (2008), The Fraudster’s Modus Operandi. London.
180 Biswas, S., (2005) How secure are India’s call centres?, BBC News, 24 June,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4619859.stm.
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