NESTA Crime Online - University of Brighton Repository

Cybercriminals find e-gold a convenient currency for the following reasons. First, the
process is anonymous, quick and uncomplicated; anyone can set up an e-gold account in
less than a minute and with a couple of clicks on the computer. No valid e-mail is
requested although users are required to have a name, which is not checked. Second, e-
gold transactions are irreversible, which means that transactions are final, and the
company enforces this policy even in the event of mistakes and; third, the company is
independent and beyond the authority of any country.
Many phishing tools are also cheap and easy to use, for instance, a scam letter and
scam page in your chosen language, a fresh spam list, technologies to send out 100,000
mails for six hours, a hacked website for hosting the scam page for a few days, and
finally a stolen but valid credit card cost about $60 (£40) in 2007. Seemingly the return
on investment could easily be 300 per cent, but it could be ten times more. 208 This kind
of ‘phishing trip’ has the potential to uncover at least 20 bank accounts of varying cash
balances and will cost only $200 (£134). Details of the data harvested, however, will
cost $2,000 (£1340) in e-gold if they are sold to another cybercriminal. 209 Nevertheless
prices are far from static in underground markets. Rapid changes in prices are the result
of the exponential growth in the supply stolen data. Recent research indicates that the
market for stolen personal information, including credit card details, and personal
information has grown to such an extent during 2008 that prices have fallen dramatically
ranging for credit card details from $0.06 (4p) to $30 (£20) and full identities from
$0.70 (46p) to $60 (£50). 210
New technologies also make the replication of genuine documents easy and of a high
enough standard to escape scrutiny. For instance, a counterfeit driving license could be
used to authenticate identity and address for the purposes of store credit. Such
counterfeiting sites are available on the Internet.
Guillaume Lovet, (2006), Dirty Money on the Wires: The Business Models of Cyber Criminals. Virus Bulletin
Conference, October 11-13, Montreal.
208 Guillaume Lovet, “How cybercrime operations work – and why they make money.” http://www.out-
law.com/page-7791 (accessed 29 th November 2008).
209 ibid
210 Prices varied according to the amount of information included with the card or identity, rarity of the
information, and bulk purchase sizes. Symantec (2009) Symantec Global Internet Security Threat Report,
Trends for 2008, Volume XIV, Published April 2009.
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